New data obtained by Mancunian Matters has revealed the 42 countries across the world Manchester United season ticket holders hail from – and the astonishing numbers making the journey from some countries shows just how far the Reds’ global appeal stretches.
While the overwhelming majority of season ticket holders – 93% – come from the UK, our exclusive data shows that 7% are based across the globe, from as far away as Bahrain and Bermuda, New Delhi and New York.
But there are some surprises in the ranking of the countries season ticket holders come from, with some smaller countries not generally known for their football support punching above their weight in how well represented they are at Manchester’s most well-attended football stadium.
According to data obtained directly from the club, the country with the highest number of Manchester United season ticket holders outside of the UK is the Republic of Ireland. Out of a total of 46,800 Old Trafford season tickets, 1,616 are registered to addresses in the country, representing 3.5% of total season tickets held.
Proximity and ease of access to Manchester, the deep connection between Manchester and Ireland through centuries of immigration, and the number of iconic Irish United players across multiple eras such as Liam Whelan, Paul McGrath and Roy Keane are obvious reasons why there is such a strong body of Irish support at Old Trafford.
Also fairly obvious are the reasons for the presence on the list of 837 fans – 1.8% of total season tickets – from the second most well represented country from outside the UK: Norway.
A football-loving nation with a long history of fans travelling to support UK teams, Norway produced a particularly strong wave of footballers in the 1990s, including three who would eventually win the Treble with United in 1999: Ronny Johnsen, Henning Berg, and, of course, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But much less obvious are the reasons for the surprising entry of the country with the third-highest number of non-UK based season ticket holders at Old Trafford – the tiny Mediterranean nation of Malta.
At just 122 square miles, Malta covers an area smaller than the City of Manchester, Salford and Trafford combined, and has a population of just 570,000 – around 60,000 fewer than the area covered by Manchester City Council.
Located in the Mediterranean sea between Sicily and Tunisia, Malta lies approximately 1,500 miles from Manchester and has never had a player from the country play in the Premier League, let alone for Manchester United.
So how come this small archipelago is home to 185 Manchester United season ticket holders – almost double the number registered in fourth-placed Denmark (95) and the same amount as in Switzerland (73), Sweden (62), the Netherlands (22) Belgium (20) and Poland (eight) combined?
Joe Tedesco is President of Manchester United Supporters’ Club (MUSC) Malta, the world’s oldest official Manchester United supporters’ club, which was set up in 1959, the year after the Munich air disaster claimed the lives of 23 people including 8 United players.
MUSC Malta has maintained a strong connection with the club ever since, to the point that Malta was the only place that the three trophies that comprised the Treble visited following the club’s astonishing 1999 achievement.
“That was one hell of a day”, laughs Joe. “I flew to Manchester and we picked up the trophies on an eight-seater plane, and had to fly at low altitude back to Malta. 17th June 1999. They were the happy days; the late ’90s, early ’00s. The numbers who travel over to games now from Malta has actually decreased, but the fanaticism is still there.
“I actually thought Malta would have more than 185 season ticket holders; we used to have around 500. COVID had a big impact; a lot of people gave up their tickets because they couldn’t travel, and afterwards, the prices of the flights to the UK rocketed. Now it’s not unusual to have to pay €600 for a return flight.
“We are also affected a lot by the kick-off time and date changes for TV. This season in particular, we have had a lot of Monday night games. There have been a lot of instances where people have booked flights for the weekend, returning on Monday morning, only to see the game moved to the Monday night.”
Given all these challenges, is MUSC Malta able to attract younger fans to keep the support alive? “Yes, but a lot of younger kids aren’t supporting English teams any more. In the ’90s in Malta, you either supported an English team, or an Italian team. Now, with more games available on TV, a lot of kids support Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Paris Saint-Germain.”
One noticeable trend in the data is that in those countries such as those mentioned by Joe with a strong footballing culture of their own, the number of Old Trafford season ticket holders is comparatively low.
Italy comes bottom in the table of countries which have at least one United season ticket holder, placing joint 39th alongside India, Russia, and Croatia. Germany has just 10 United season ticket holders, and only seven are based in Spain.
Given the difficulties Joe identified with travel and the global appeal of other big clubs, another surprise in the data comes from how many Old Trafford season ticket holders reside not only outside of the UK, but outside of Europe.
209 season tickets, or 0.4% of the overall total, are registered to addresses outside of Europe. The USA, placed sixth in the ranking, is home to 66 registered season ticket holders, the largest number residing in New York (12), followed by Illinois (nine), California (seven), Texas (six) and Virginia (six).
Eighth in the ranking comes Israel, with 42 registered season ticket holders. Also attracting a notable amount of season ticket holders are 12th place Bermuda (14 season ticket holders); Thailand, ranked 14th with 13 season ticket holders, and Hong Kong placing 15th with 12 season ticket holders.
But surely these fans aren’t travelling 19 times a season or more from Hong Kong or Thailand, or even Australia – which has seven current season ticket holders – to Manchester?
To answer that, it’s first important to understand a little about how season tickets at Old Trafford work. All season tickets are digital, and accessed through the Manchester United phone app. Through this app, season ticket holders can create “relationships” with official members – those who pay an annual membership fee to the club of around £20-50 – and forward their season ticket on to them to use on a game-by-game basis. There is no limit to how many times a season ticket can be forwarded each season, and no limit on how many different members the ticket can be forwarded to.
There is, however, a rule from the club that all season tickets must be “used” for 16 out of 19 league games per season. A ticket is “used” when it is either used by the season ticket holder to attend a game; forwarded to an official member; sold back to the club for resale; or donated to the Manchester United Foundation, the club’s in-house charity.
Ticket forwarding means that fans from outside the UK can hold a season ticket in their name, but can then pick and choose which games they attend, forwarding on their ticket to another fan or reselling to the club for the games they can’t attend without losing money.
The vast network of official Manchester United supporters’ clubs around the globe account for a number of those non-UK based season ticket holders. The club has over 330 supporters’ clubs globally, many of which share season tickets between their members depending on who is available to travel.
Thai MUSC is one of the largest Manchester United supporters’ clubs in Asia. The club holds two season tickets under the name of Pete, the club chair, and the club secretary. They have held the seats since 2018 and are proud that there has been a member of the club at every home game United have played since 2013.
Pete told me: “Season tickets offer a great seat location and we can easily forward them to whichever of our members can attend the game. Myself and our secretary travel to Manchester once or twice a season. Over the past few years it has been harder for our members to travel – each trip costs around £2,000 – and so we have donated the tickets to the Manchester United Foundation when no-one from the club can make the game.”
Joe Tedesco from MUSC Malta echoed this. “The supporters’ club itself owns 12 tickets. The rest are owned by individuals. Not everyone can make every game, and so many of them sell the tickets on at face value to members from other branches. We have a great community of branches and we help each other out; we forward someone our spare tickets for one game, they pay us back by forwarding us their tickets for another game, so we can make sure all our members who want to attend a particular game can do.”
As well as being held by or shared amongst branches, a number of season tickets are held by British migrants who now live and work abroad, but have kept their season ticket for when they return to the UK. Due to the aforementioned minimum usage requirements, however, this is becoming more and more difficult.
Keith from the Brisbane supporters’ club in Australia said: “A lot of our members are ex-pats and when they initially come over they try to keep their season ticket active, but given United’s ever tightening of rules, they soon have to surrender them.”
For those season ticket holders who move abroad temporarily, keeping hold of their season ticket is hugely important. The club claims there are around 200,000 people currently on their season ticket waiting list. Giving up a season ticket while working abroad could potentially mean a wait of many years to get to the front of the queue when they return.
Mark moved from Manchester to Los Angeles two and a half years ago and has held his season ticket for 33 years. He says that while he is living abroad, his brother uses his ticket for most games, and he attends for two games a season when back in the UK.
Living abroad has made him aware of the hostility some UK-based fans hold for foreign fans who hold season tickets and the perception amongst some that they are taking tickets away from more local fans who can attend every game.
“I am split with this. I do understand the frustration from local fans but seeing how mad about United some of these US fans are, they deserve to watch United too. As much as we moan – and I’ve been guilty of it too – we wouldn’t be the same without our worldwide fanbase.”
Given the struggles the United team have faced in recent seasons, it may seem even more surprising that non-UK based fans are willing to fork out £800+ per year for season tickets they may not be able to resell. Why do they continue to hold season tickets in such numbers despite the on-pitch rewards for attending games leaving a lot to be desired?
Pete from MUSC Thailand says: “For me, having a season ticket is a way to show support and loyalty to the manager and players. We truly need to offer our support during this difficult period. The brighter days will come.”
Joe from MUSC Malta sums up the magical unpredictability that comes from following a football club. “Even when there has been a bad season overall, there are always highlights. It might be 80% terrible, but then you get those moments that keep you coming back. Harry Maguire’s last-minute winner against Lyon. Beating Liverpool and City. Winning the FA Cup. No matter how bad things get, they always find a way of drawing us back in.”
Feature image: Old Trafford football stadium, home stadium of Manchester United Football Club. Image by Carly Lyes for MM.
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