Despite Manchester City boasting being the world's "richest club" ... Manchester United is the world’s most valuable team brand in sport.
The Red Devils boasts 659 million followers around the globe, according to market research outfit Kantar, with 71 million fans in the Americas, 90 million in Europe, 173 million in Middle East and Africa, and 325 million in Asia-Pacific – with more than 100 million in China alone.
Richard Arnold, the club’s commercial director: “Manchester United has built on a tradition of iconic players, iconic teams and iconic achievements – Beckham, Busby, Benfica ‘68.
“Now our games are broadcast to 1.15 billion households globally, to an audience of over four billion a year.”
Forbes magazine recently named Manchester United the most valuable team in any sport, worth $385 million more than both Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League in the US.
Man Utd are one of five football teams worth at least $1 billion – the others are Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona, Arsenal of the UK, and Germany’s Bayern Munich.