Domestically the Vancouver Whitecaps are the biggest team in Canadian soccer. The club’s fanbase is dwarfed however when it comes to the global soccer landscape with Canada being home to a huge diaspora of foreign football fans.
That’s doesn’t just necessarily mean ex-pats who follow their home team from afar but also native Canadians who throw their support and dedication behind overseas clubs. These fans wake in the wee small hours to cheer on their teams, they trawl through the forums and buy every bit of merchandise they can get their hands on.
They are just as – if not more – dedicated than regular match going fans and live and die by the results of their adopted teams. But which foreign club is the most popular here in Canada? Read on to find out…
5. Arsenal
The Gunners have not won the Premier League since 2004, back when Paul Martin was Prime Minister. Despite that the North London club are the fifth most supported foreign team here in Canada.
The French connection of Arsene Wenger, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires clearly has something to do with the club’s popularity in this country. As does their sleek and entertaining brand of football, combined with the club’s rich history – they are by some distance, the third most successful club in English football history after all.
What the good people of Canada crave more than anything though is success. Domestically Mikel Arteta’s men find themselves way off the pace in the Premier League but on the continent, they are amongst the favourites for the Champions League in the current football betting markets.
(Thierry Henry has a lot to answer for when it comes to disappointed Arsenal fans in Canada!)
4. Manchester City
15 years ago you would be hard pressed to find a Manchester City fan walking around the streets of Manchester, let alone Toronto, Vancouver or Quebec. Nowadays however the club have fans all across the world, which shows just how important success is to the popularity of a football team.
Back in 2008 the mega rich Emirati royal and politician Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought a struggling Manchester City outfit for a rumoured £200 million. 17 years and roughly £3 billion later, City have been transformed from a mid-table outfit infamous for playing a goalkeeper up front to a global superpower.
In that period the Citizens have won 8 Premier League titles, 6 League Cups, 3 FA Cups 1 Champions League and 1 FIFA Club World Cup. It’s not bad going for anyone and has obviously gone down well with Canadian soccer fans (sorry, in order to avoid offending one side of the argument we’ve decided to offend both by using ‘football’ and ‘soccer’ interchangeably.)
3. Manchester United
At one point Manchester United had genuine reason to claim that they were the biggest football club on the planet. During the noughties, their success under Sir Alex Ferguson combined with their aggressive marketing in North America and Asia made them the biggest football brand on the planet.
Since then, success both on and off the pitch has fallen away at an alarming rate, leaving supporters in a general sense of shell shock. Despite that though, the Red Devils still have a large army of fans both here in Canada and south of the border in that country that we don’t like to speak of anymore…
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(It feels a long time since Manchester United fans were enjoying these glory years.)
2. Liverpool
Another example of how success changes everything. In the 1970s and 1980s Liverpool were the biggest ticket in English football. It wasn’t even up for debate. Then in the 1990s and 2000s a period of decline based on mismanagement saw the club’s popularity wane.
Through the help of Jurgen Klopp, the Reds found their way back to the top table of not just English but also European football and are now once again a huge name in global sports. Despite being the second most popular foreign team in Canada though, Liverpool are way, way, way behind the team in first spot…
1. Real Madrid
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of sitting through one of Gary Neville’s post-match podcasts you’ll no doubt have had to listen to him proclaim that, “Manchester United are the biggest football club on the planet.”
(The biggest club on the planet are the current holders of the UEFA Champions League.)
Not only is that wrong, but it’s quite frankly offensive as Real Madrid are the undisputed heavyweights of not just global soccer, but global sports. Los Blancos have more fans around the globe than Liverpool and Manchester United combined. They’ve also forgotten about more Champions League victories than both clubs combined.
So it’s no wonder then that just like everywhere else on the planet, Real Madrid are the most popular foreign team in Canada.
