Following a recent survey, the chances that someone is a Manchester United supporter are now as great as one in ten. That’s almost 660 million people around the world.

Last year between June and August, a market research firm named Kantar conducted surveys in 39 countries with 54 000 people. They asked interviewees which “team or teams they followed”. The results were overwhelmingly in Man. U’s favour. Barcelona was next in line, but they only enjoy half the amount of support as their better-off counterparts do in Asia.

The new data shows that United’s support has doubled worldwide in the past five years, and that 88% of the support came from emerging markets “including 108 million fans in China, 55 million in Indonesia, 35 million in India and 26 million in Vietnam.”

The club’s commercial director, Richard Arnold, says the support has helped the club’s commercial income grow by 10% every year since 2007. He also mentioned that the widespread support had greatly contributed to their commercial success.

[T]heir training kit sponsored by DHL is now the fourth-highest selling kit worldwide, while 10,000 United branded Honda motorcycles that went on sale in Thailand sold out in two weeks.

[Source: Daily Mail]