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 worlds most popular football club online. The study also shows that roughly 60 percent, or 1.3 million, of Manchester Uniteds 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.

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