Today, comScore released worldwide traffic figures for the top European football clubs’ Web sites. With both the FA Cup and European Champions League finals just days away, the study reveals that the FA Cup Final teams (Manchester United and Chelsea) together attract a far larger global online site audience than the two teams in the final of the Champions League (Liverpool and A.C. Milan).

Manchester United attracted 2.2 million unique visitors to its Web site during March 2007, making it the world’s most popular football club online. The study also shows that roughly 60 percent, or 1.3 million, of Manchester United’s 2.2 million monthly visitors do not reside in the U.K. – quantifying the global reach and appeal of the Manchester United brand franchise. Rounding out the top 7 most popular football teams online are Liverpool (1.5 million global unique visitors), Arsenal (1.4 million), Real Madrid (1.1 million) , Barcelona (1.05 million), Chelsea (1.0 million) and A.C. Milan (0.8 million).

“Football is the most popular sport in the world, so it should not be surprising that the top teams have fans across the globe,” said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. “Smart marketers realize that the true value of an endorsement relationship with a football club requires taking into consideration the size of the global fan base that the club attracts. In turn, that points to the value of comScore data in providing a global perspective.”

Worldwide Traffic to Football Sites by Unique Visitors (000)* March 2007 Source: comScore World Metrix
Site	Club	Unique Visitors (000)	Percentage of Visitation from Team’s Home Country
		Worldwide	Home Country	Non-Home Country
Manutd.com	Manchester United	2,218	43%	57%
Liverpoolfc.tv	Liverpool	1,497	53%	47%
Arsenal.com	Arsenal	1,435	47%	53%
RealMadrid.com	Real Madrid	1,137	33%	67%
FCBarcelona.com	Barcelona	1,053	26%	74%
ChelseaFC.com	Chelsea	1,000	38%	62%
ACMilan.com	AC Milan	825	34%	66%
Inter.it	Inter Milan	824	49%	51%
Juventus.com	Juventus	619	31%	69%
Om.net	Marseille	531	82%	18%
PSG.fr	Paris St Germain	413	77%	23%
Olweb.fr	Lyon	319	78%	22%

* Unique visitors worldwide aged 15+, excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes, or access from mobile phones or PDAs.