United's Attraction Abroad.

FortBoyard

I was thinking earlier, with the whole Ronaldo saga, about in what parts of the world players would 'dream' about playing for United and not the likes of Madrid.

I'd say it works out something like this:

N.Americans, Northern Europeans (B.Isles, Scandinavia, perhaps some Germans etc) hold United in the highest regard.

For Africans I'd say we rank ahead of Madrid too.

Of course Real Madrid would be the 'dream' club for S.Americans, and Mediterranean Europeans (particaularly Iberians) aswell as Milan.

What say you?

R*v*N

We have no competitors in the Far East as well

1871_Biscuit

When was the last time there was a decent player from the Far East though. Its a bit like saying we have a great attraction in the Arctic.

[Hellboy]17

R*v*N

Just kidding mate :P

MikeUpNorth

They'll start to emerge. There's a lot of them out there, so some of them are bound to be able to kick a ball about with some talent.

RedKaos

The fact that we're so close to Man City.

Xander45

If they're lucky they'll see the glow coming from their massive floodlights.

VoetbalWizard

depends on the background of the north americans. if they are mexican/hispanic backgroun then most of them that i've come across support barca/madrid more than united. united, then arsenal i would say are the most popular from premiership (though i know more dipper supporters personally in the US than i do united ones, go figure).

the vast majority of africans i've met support chelsea or arsenal moreso than united (makes sense to me, they have the most top class african players consistently over the last 3-4 years). Barca too is popular. Not so much madrid, but my sample size is small.

Jarmon

In sweden I think I could say that most is holding united/liverpool

Lizard King

Need to get Marcos' perspective as he lives in S.America.

Marcos, where are you bitch?

cockneyred

south london

Psmith

Most South Americans have a local team and then either support Barca/Real. That's what I've been told anyway.

Cold_Boy

Then who the fuck support Manchester United?

SharkyMcShark

A lot of it is also the background of the potential player - for example alot of my mates of Italian heritage support Juve or Inter, so it isn't just a sort of blanket thing with countries that United is popular in.

zing

everyone in Asia

too bad no one here can play football

Cal?

English speaking world + Asia -> United
Spanish/Portugese speaking world -> Real Madrid

Eto'odinho

I'm in Canada at the moment and I can only United shirts being worn here. Top marks to the Canadians, wonderful hosts and decent fans.

Top

The influx of players from Portugal and their success must have made the awareness and support of United quite big in Portugal.
Likewise with Argentina, remember Marcos saying that they in Argentina were showing all of West Ham's matches when Tevez played there just like they are now showing all of United's matches.
Small kids looking for a club to support are most likely going to choose a club they see on tv which will influence them once they decide to move abroad - so hopefully things are changing, though it probably doesn't help our case that the best player in the world wants to move to Spain.

Sonny Feehan

My boss is not the slightest bit interested in football other than the time I take off to watch it but she went on a trip to SE Asia and said the only soccer shirts she ever saw were United's

Vinay

Anywhere that Britain and British are held in low esteem would bound to be difficult for us...

Sonny1972

This might hurt but in Holland Liverpool is way more popular then Manchester United.

[Hellboy]17

source ?

Richter

I thought you guys liked football played the right way

Cold_Boy

Yes but the numbers are not much.In countries like Holland as they have their own big league they hardly follow other leagues with passion.I was in Netherlands for a 2 weeks and the only Premiership shirts I saw were United's.

neno

Here in El Salvador it is a La Liga Haven with Serie A in a distant second. But of all English teams United definitely come first. This is generally the case in most of Central America.

BillyBob

In fact, what you'll typically see in SE Asia is mostly United, then a lot of Pool, then Arse. Used to be a lot of bandwagoner Chav shirts, but funnily enough, they've close to vanished. There were a lot of Beckham when he joined RM, but they've gone and you don't see any RM at all any more. Occasionally you'll see a Juve, a Barca, an AC Milan but EPL rules.

REd FUn DevIl

The majority of the latins supports Madrid and Barca. Thats from Mexico to Argentina. There are few that support Milan, Utd and the rest.

From 10 just 1 or 2 may support another team that is not Barca or Madrid.

Cant talk about USA and Canada but i can bet they are no different to us.

MadDogg

Ronaldo has actually opened up the likes of Portugal, Spain, Brazil, etc a lot to us. Before him we were massively behing the big Spanish and Italian clubs for players in the latino world. Now that gap is much smaller. The youngsters growing up there now see us as a valid option, and some would have become true fans (particularly in Portugal). Hell, even the likes of Nani and Anderson, players only a few years younger, were much more open to joining us than they would've been if Ronaldo hadn't come before them.

Unfortunately, Ronaldo himself is from the previous generation who didn't really have any heroes playing in this league or this club.

grahamo

I'd imagine United are quite popular in Argentina as Argentinian United players have talked about United fans "Argentina" chants in interviews.

Iron Stove

I don't know if they really are more popular over here but I've met a lot more Swedes who support Liverpool than United. The big Italian clubs like Juve and Milan are quite popular as well.

Richter

A recent survey in Sweden showed that United is the most popular club here but I doubt it tbh. I think Liverpool,Arsenal and maybe Barca and Real are more popular.

UnitedRoadRed