Manchester United has finally achieved world domination – it's official!

By Stuart Newman

May 29 – Manchester United’s unparalleled popularity among football fans across the globe has been confirmed by a new survey.

The English Premier League club boasts 659 million supporters worldwide who named the Red Devils as their favourite team, the survey from Kantar has revealed.

The market research agency’s poll was the largest ever carried out among football followers, and garnered 54,000 respondents from 39 countries.

United – which has claimed three European Cups and a record 19 top-flight league titles in its 134-year history – was recently named by Forbes, the leading business magazine, as the most valuable club in world sport with revenues estimated at $2.235 billion (£1.396 billion/€1.700 billion).

Kantar also found that football remains the world’s best-loved sport with 1.6 billions fans globally, echoing a recent FIFA poll which produced similar results.

The Old Trafford club’s rise to achieve world domination has been built around “iconic” traditions – in terms of players, teams and achievements, according to Richard Arnold, United’s commercial director.

“Beckham, Busby (pictured above), Benfica ’68,” said Arnold.

“Now our games are broadcast to 1.15 billion households globally and to an audience of over four billion a year.

“Manchester United resonates with followers all over the world and it’s their passion and support that means year after year we can continue doing what matters most to everyone at the club: playing attacking football and competing for trophies.”

Arnold attributed the club’s “exponential” rise in popularity to the explosion in media partnerships which have attracted scores of subscribers, internet footage via websites such as YouTube [showing Wayne Rooney’s spectacular overhead kick against rivals Manchester City in February, pictured above] and various social media channels in addition to mainstream and satellite television.

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