Manchester City catching United in Asia thanks to Erling Haaland effect

Manchester City may have won five English Premier League titles since Manchester United’s last triumph in 2013 but the Old Trafford club are still ahead in Asia. Compared to the famous red shirts, sightings of a City top have been relatively rare in the streets of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai over the years. It’s starting to change though and in the world’s biggest continent the gap has been closing and now, thanks to Erling Haaland, it is closing quicker than ever.

There are a lot of doubtful numbers put forward by European clubs about their followings out east. In 2015, Chelsea claimed a quarter of a billion Asian fans, three years after United had settled on 325m in the Asia-Pacific region. Yet United have had, along with Liverpool, a base of solid support in Southeast Asian heartlands of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand due to English football being broadcast there in the 70s and 80s. Then, in the late 90s and throughout the noughties, as the Premier League rocketed in popularity everywhere, United were dominant on the pitch with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-sung, and off it with their commercial expertise. This combination brought in fans in new markets such as China, Korea, Japan and India.

Now the story is of United’s decline contrasted with City’s success and a growing following in Asia. While the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Agüero and David Silva may be, or have been, world-class, for the first time City have a genuine global megastar in their Norwegian striker. Asian fans of European clubs are often perceived to be more interested in individual players rather than teams and flock to those that win and turn their backs on those that don’t. Haaland helps his