New Delhi: A recent survey has found that England's Manchester United are the most popular football club with 659 million followers worldwide.

The survey was carried out by leading market research agency, Kantar, and gathered 54,000 respondents from 39 countries. The club that Forbes recently named the most valuable in world sport was identified as the favourite team of 659 million followers around the world.

Kantar found that football remains the world's most popular sport, with 1.6 billion followers globally, reinforcing the results of a recent FIFA survey which produced a similar figure.

Richard Arnold, the Club's Commercial Director, commented on the long-term strategy that has made Manchester United the No.1 club in the world's No.1 sport.

"Manchester United has built on a tradition of iconic players, iconic teams and iconic achievements - Beckham, Busby, Benfica '68. Now our games are broadcast to 1.15 billion households globally, to an audience of over four billion a year. Manchester United resonates with followers all over the world, and it's their passion and support that means year after year we can continue doing what matters most to everyone at the Club: playing attacking football and competing for trophies," said Arnold in a statement. (IANS)