Manchester United survey reveals they have doubled their global fan base to 659 million over five year

Manchester United survey reveals they have doubled their global fan base to 659 million over five years Manchester United have doubled their global fan base to 659 million over five years to reinforce their standing as the world's most popular football club, according to a survey commissioned by the club.

Manchester United survey reveals they have doubled their global fanbase to 659 million over five years Fan power: a survey, commissioned by Manchester United, and carried out last year by market researcher Kantar, showed almost half of their supporters were in Asia-Pacific.

 Owned by the American Glazer family, United considered floating on the Singapore stock market last year before shelving the plan due to turbulent financial markets. The survey, commissioned by the club and carried out last year by market researcher Kantar, showed almost half of Manchester United's supporters were in Asia-Pacific. "I'm not here to speculate on financial structures," United commercial director Richard Arnold told reporters when asked about the stock market plan. "What this shows is that our family of followers has doubled in five years." Manchester United has commercial partners in 72 countries. Kantar questioned 54,000 people in 39 countries between June and August 2011, and its survey revealed football had 1.6 billion followers globally. Fans were allowed to name more than one club as their favourite.

Arnold shrugged off scepticism about the figures. "This piece of research is very important, not only for commercial partnerships - both new and existing - but it also provides a roadmap that allows the club to understand exactly what is going on." When the survey was conducted, United had just won the English Premier league for a record 19th time and reached the final of the Champions League. Arnold said he did not believe United's trophyless season would hit their fan base. "It's a myth to say that football support is transient. Who you support changes less than who you are married to," he joked. He declined to give details of the fan base of other clubs, beyond noting United had twice as many fans in Asia as its closest challenger there, Barcelona.