"?Manchester United have regained their position as the world's most popular football club with "?researc"?h from Dr Peter Rohlmann and PR Marketing claiming that they have sold more replica shirts than any other club.
The Red Devils have sold an average of 1.75m shirts per year during five-season period between 2011 and 2016, beating the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
The data has been compiled by reputable researcher "?Dr Peter Rohlmann and has been published by "?Sports Intelligence.
The next Premier League club on the list is Chelsea, with the Blues selling an average of 899,000 per season, which is around 50,000 more than Liverpool who average 852,000 sales each year.
Average shirt sales per year from 2011/12 to 2015/16
The significance of the data is ultimately increased revenue, on both a consumer and commercial scale. Last week Chelsea announced a new £60m-a-year deal with kit manufacturer Nike, while United have a deal with adidas worth £75m a year.
"?Back in 2012 Real Madrid topped the list with 1.4m shirt sales per year, but now Man Utd have asserted their world dominance by pipping the Spanish giants to top-spot.
Top 5 shirt sales in the last 5 years around the world:
1. Man Utd
2. Real Madrid
3. Barcelona
4. Bayern
5. Chelsea pic.twitter.com/lnqyUgwc8u
Rohlmann, who conducted the research, believes that the sales growth is constantly increasing due to the impressive designs of new kits and supporters' desire to wear their team's colours on match-days.
He said: "Generally, the sales of replica shirts have increased at a constant growth rate. Football jerseys are more popular than ever and their attractive designs increasingly mean fans want to wear them away from match days"?.
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