Champions League clubs ranked by their number of social media followers

Written by Paul Kemp

Paul Kemp

Paul Kemp is an experienced sports writer covering Soccer, NBA and NHL. He also writes in depth reviews of sports betting sites based on his personal experience.

, | Updated: September 17, 2024

The latest edition of the Champions League kicks off today. The tournament offers not only a new format and fierce competition on the pitch but also sparking intriguing debates between fans and pundits, whether on TV shows or on social media. In a twist from the usual focus on team values, Sportingpedia mirrored UEFA’s ranking system for the draw, using 4 pots to separate the teams, but instead of club coefficients, we used the their social media popularity. We gathered the number of followers on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok for each team’s official account and presented them in a compelling visualization. The analysis paints an intriguing picture, with one of the most curious findings being that the combined social media followers of three Premier League giants – Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal – still fall short of the reigning Champions League winner and 15-time title holder Real Madrid’s fan base.

Key Takeaways:

• Real Madrid and Barcelona are the only teams with more than 300 million followers
• Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal combined have less followers than Real Madrid
• Five clubs – Sparta and Slavia Praha, Young Boys, Slovan, and Sturm have less than 1 million followers
• 19 teams from last season have achieved qualification for the Champions League in consecutive seasons
• Real Madrid enjoys the biggest increase in terms of numbers with more than 40 million new followers
• Atletico Madrid marks the biggest increase in terms of percentage with 28.7%, growing from 48.4 million to 62.3 millions
• Young Boys have attracted the fewest new followers – 50,000

Pot 1 and the tournament in general is dominated by the Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, who are miles ahead of the rest in terms of social media followers. Real Madrid leads the pack with an astounding 392.1 million followers, significantly boosted by the high-profile signing of Kylian Mbappe and last season Champions League triumph, which helped the club grow its fanbase by over 40 million followers in just one year. Barcelona follows with 329.6 million, marking a more modest increase of 13.5 million. Both clubs are the only participants with over 300 million followers, demonstrating their continued global reach and influence. Behind them are Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, and Manchester City, with each boasting more than 150 million followers, though still far from the heights of Madrid and Barcelona. Notably, PSG remains the only club from Pot 1 yet to lift a Champions League trophy, despite its enormous following. It is worth noting that Spanish teams’ lead is so big, that the combined number of followers of PSG and Juventus do not reach Barcelona’s number alone. Milan, with 69.3 million followers, rounds out Pot 1 as the club with the smallest fan base among the group, though it still enjoys a sizable online presence compared to clubs in lower pots.

Pot 2 features clubs with substantial but less overwhelming social media followings. Atletico Madrid tops this group with 62.3 million followers, having seen the largest percentage increase from last year’s participants, growing by 28.7%. Inter and Borussia Dortmund, both recent Champions League finalists, rank closely behind with 61.6 million and 52.3 million followers, respectively. These clubs enjoy a strong global fanbase, though they are significantly behind the Pot 1 powerhouses. Returning clubs like Monaco and Aston Villa mark their re-entry into the competition with more modest followings, 20.1 million and 15.9 million respectively, while Sporting Lisbon and Benfica, traditional powerhouses in their domestic leagues, sit lower in the ranking with around 8-10 million followers each.

Pot 3 brings together teams with a more niche but still passionate online presence. RB Leipzig, PSV, and Celtic lead the way with follower counts ranging from 6.4 to 4.8 million followers, with only the Germans exceeding 5 million from that pot. These clubs, while successful in their domestic leagues, struggle to match the global appeal of their Pot 1 and Pot 2 counterparts. Feyenoord, Atalanta, and Crvena Zvezda also sit within this pot, each with fewer than 5 million followers. The appeal of these clubs tends to be more regional, with their fan bases concentrated heavily in their home countries rather than spread globally. Shakhtar Donetsk and Club Brugge, who have consistently punched above their weight in European competitions, have similarly modest followings, and Bologna, with just 2.26 million followers, rounds out this pot.

Finally, Pot 4 is home to clubs with the smallest online footprint. RB Salzburg and Stuttgart lead the group with 2.17 and 2.01 million followers respectively, but the majority of clubs in this pot have yet to reach 1 million followers. Sparta Praha, Young Boys, Slavia Praha, Slovan, and Sturm Graz are the only teams in the competition whose social media followings fall below the 1 million mark, highlighting the massive gap between these clubs and the giants of Pot 1. Despite their relatively small global presence, these clubs continue to be competitive on the field, showing that success in European football is not always tied to popularity.

Breakdown for each club’s fan base on the different social media platforms (in millions)