Indian football fans rate Manchester Utd as their favourite Premier League team; Cristiano Ronaldo is the top player and Alex Ferguson the best coach
MUMBAI: Which is India’s favourite EPL team? No prizes for guessing, it is Manchester United. The Red Devils are way ahead of title rivals Chelsea and Arsenal in popularity charts in the country.
The Indian fans think Sir Alex Ferguson’s side is the most exciting and entertaining. A global fans report, published on Tuesday, surveyed over 1600 Indian fans, revealed that the Red Devils are top of the charts with 44 per cent vote, ahead of Chelsea’s 21 per cent and Arsenal’s 18 per cent.
Not just the team, even Manchester United’s mercurial winger Cristiano Ronaldo is the favourite footballer. He has got 43 per cent vote ahead of Liverpool’s duo Steven Gerrard (32 per cent) and Fernando Torres (31 per cent).
But Thierry Henry, (37 per cent) who now plays for Spanish giants Barcelona, was voted as their all-time favourite EPL player, marginally ahead of David Beckham (36 per cent).
Talismanic former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is someone the fans would like the most to see return to the Premier League.
Their current favourite manager is Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson (41 per cent). Home to Manchester United, Old Trafford is the favourite stadium. The survey canvassed the opinions of 32,000 supporters across 185 countries and showed that style of football was the main motivation for team support.
Kevin Wall from Barclays, which conducted the survey, said, “As a topic of conversation football is twice as popular as all other sports combined, three times more popular than TV and four times more popular than politics. It’s a great unifying force and it proves that football really is the world’s game, and the Premier League is its favourite competition.”
Considering only 8 per cent of fans questioned have followed their favourite Premier League team for more than ten years, it is remarkable to note the appetite for football by Indian fans. Nearly one in two supporters (45 per cent) consume more than five hours of football per week.
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