With exposure to football from across the globe at an all time high, it comes as no surprise that a study has revealed 86.7 per cent of fans support clubs from overseas.
As the world’s most-watched sport, football attracts audiences from almost every nation on the planet, with the World Cup final nowadays viewed by billions rather than millions.
Divisions like the Premier League have a truly global foot print, with numerous countries broadcasting games from England, as well as some of the top competitions in the game.
However a study, conducted by Chiliz, the blockchain provider for sports and entertainment, has highlighted just how far-reaching football can be.
Some 86.7 per cent of those asked claimed to support a club from another country, while 37 per cent of those clubs played their football in England – the highest of any nation specified.
The Premier League is the most watched league by fans outside of the UK while 37 per cent of overseas fans say they support an English team
LaLiga was the second most-watched team according to the survey of fans from eight countries across the world
Moreover, the power of the Premier League was repeatedly evidence in the study, with 32.2 per cent of people saying they watched the English top-flight, ahead of LaLiga (22.7 per cent) and the Bundesliga (5.5 per cent).
Interestingly, after Serie A (4.6 per cent) and Ligue 1 (2.8 per cent), the Championship was the sixth-most watched division (2.6 per cent) – putting it ahead of the Brazilian, Portuguese and Argentinian top flights.
When asked for which overseas club fans supported, it is therefore no shock to learn that as many as six English clubs feature in the top 10 – though the top two spots are reserved for Spanish royalty, Real Madrid (15.7 percent) and Barcelona (10.4 per cent).
Premier League sides, though, rank from third to eighth; Man United (9.8 per cent), Chelsea 6.7 per cent), Arsenal (5.9 per cent), Tottenham (5.8 per cent), Man City (5.3 per cent), and Liverpool (5.1 per cent).
Aston Villa also featured on the list in 18th spot with 0. 58 per cent while Brighton also made the cut in 21st spot on 0.56 per cent.
Of the eight countries from which fans were surveyed – UK, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria, USA and Turkey – the UK had the fewest fans say they support an overseas club, at 74.6 per cent.
Of that number, only 13.31 said that club was their main club, while at the other end of the spectrum, Nigerian fans had the second-highest number supporting clubs from another nation at 94.1 per cent – behind only South Korea (95 per cent) – and the highest number for whom that club was their main team with 67 per cent.
For UK football fans, the number one overseas club was Real Madrid, with a whopping 23.5 per cent of votes, ahead of Barcelona (18.4 per cent) and Bayern Munich 8.1 per cent).
Meanwhile for the likes of Nigeria, USA (both Man United) and South Korea (Tottenham), English clubs were the most-supported of all overseas nations.
