The fan following that football has across the world doesn’t need any justification. However, when it comes to a few regions of Asia, the popularity of football is sidelined by that of cricket, as cricket is nothing less than a religion in most parts of the largest continent. There’s no denying that football fans preach names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi with all their hearts; however, the popularity of the game remains second best after cricket, and a recently conducted study is a testament of it.
A recently conducted survey has declared the famous Indian Premier League team, Chennai Super Kings, as the most popular sports team with 5.12 million interactions. Grabbing the second spot is Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr with 5 million interactions. The survey was conducted by Deportes and Finanzas, and it rates teams in terms of based on overall interactions. In the same study, the third spot has been acquired by Royal Challengers Bangalore with 3.45 million interactions, whereas the fourth and the fifth spots have been acquired by Mumbai Indians and Al-Hilal with 2.74 and 2.11 million interactions, respectively.
Despite the rising popularity of the Saudi Pro League with Cristiano Ronaldo being a part of it, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s popularity knows no bounds. The cricketing legend already has a global fan following in billions, and it touches skies during the Indian Premier League, which is currently undergoing its 16th edition.