Sport

Ireland’s most popular Premier League clubs revealed – with a few surprises

MANCHESTER United are the most popular Premier League club in Ireland, just ahead of Liverpool, according to a new interactive study.

Gambling outfit Unibet used data from Facebook’s audience insights for the study, which looked at shares, comments, follows and likes of official club pages.

The survey reveals which clubs have the strongest fan bases around the world, as well as the relative popularity of the clubs in each individual country worldwide.

The results, predictably enough, show that Manchester United (170,000 Facebook followers), and Liverpool (157,500 followers) are Ireland’s two most well-supported clubs, but a number of surprises dot the lower reaches of the list.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that sixth place West Ham United are more popular in the Emerald Isle than regular title challengers Manchester City.

West Ham are a well-supported club but are not particularly associated with Ireland when it comes to fans.

Other revelations include Yorkshire strugglers Hull City making the top 10, and Premier League leaders Chelsea coming in third place ahead of Arsenal.

Arsenal as a club have historic ties with the Irish community and Chelsea’s placing above them is a sign of their meteoric rise in the past 15 years.

The same top four are the most supported teams in Dublin, with south coast Southampton moving into the top 10 at the expense of Hull City.

Worldwide, Manchester United have by far the most Facebook fans (95 million), next up is Chelsea (75 million), then Arsenal (42.5 million), while Liverpool are down in fourth (32.5 million), ahead of Manchester City in fifth (32.5 million).

Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs have seen a combined 68 Irish players turn out for them since the Premier League began in 1992.

Well-known talents such as Robbie Keane, Roy Keane, Shay Given and Seamus Coleman have all made names for themselves across the Irish Sea.

As of 2017, 174 Irish players have played at least one competitive game in the Premier League.

See Unibet’s Premier League findings below.