Do Man Utd really have 659m supporters?

Last week's 1-1 draw amid Manchester United and Real Madrid was "the bout the apple wants to see", according to the Spanish team's coach, Jose Mourinho. In fact, Manchester United affirmation any of their matches is of absorption to one in 10 of the world's seven billion people. What is the affirmation for this claim?

Even the a lot of agog adversary of Manchester United would accede that the club has admirers appropriate about the world. But the annual that it has a all-around afterward of 659 actor adults - out of a absolute 5 billion adults in the apple - is still absolutely staggering.
This is not just a amount best out of attenuate air, though. Manchester United acclimated a bazaar analysis company, Kantar, to backpack out a common survey.

The aggregation polled about 54,000 adults in 39 countries amid June and August 2011. Some were surveyed face to face, but a lot of answered questions online.
It again extrapolated from these analysis after-effects to aftermath a amount for anniversary of those 39 countries - and for the blow of the apple - demography into annual such things as the acceptance of football in these countries, and whether players built-in in them had played for Manchester United in the past.

Man Utd 'followers' (selected countries)

• China - 108 million (8% of population)
• Indonesia - 55 million (22.5%)
• India - 35 million (2.8%)
• Nigeria - 33 million (19.4%)
• Vietnam - 26 million (29.2%)
• Mexico - 25 million (22.3%)
• South Korea - 15 million (30.6%)

Start Quote
In 5 years, purportedly, Manchester United's afterward has gone from 333 million, to 659 million

Nick Harris Sportingintelligence.com
Of the 659 actor figure, Kantar says about bisected (325 million) reside in the Asia Pacific region, 173 actor in the Middle East and Africa, 90 actor in Europe and 71 actor in the Americas.

"I would aback my abstracts and altercate [they are accurate] to aural a 1% allowance of error," says Kantar administrator Richard Brinkman.

"We plan for a amount of the better companies about the world… it's in our absorption to use our ability to aftermath an authentic figure, not the better figure. We charge to accept added believability than that."
But there are affluence of football pundits who responded sceptically to the advertisement of the abstracts in May 2012.

"The abstraction that Manchester United accept 108 actor followers or admirers in China abandoned for archetype - which is what this analysis purportedly showed - is clearly ludicrous," says Nick Harris, editor of sports accounts website SportingIntelligence.com.

He aswell draws absorption to the adverse amid this survey, and one appear in 2007.
"In 5 years, purportedly, Manchester United's afterward has gone from 333 million, or thereabouts, to 659 million. So about a acceleration of humans afterward Manchester United in 5 years. This is eyebrow-raising stuff!"

Nick's eyebrows were aswell aloft by Kantar's advancement that added than 30% of South Korea's absolute citizenry of 49 actor were followers of Manchester United.