# Who would you say are the top 5 most famous sports teams in the world. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 5, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804 "2011-05-05T03:42:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/121 "2011-05-07T20:52:21Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > I think baseball and (American) football are great sports. I enjoy watching them. But they are not and never have been anything other than niche interests outside their home territories, even here in the UK where they have been relatively well-covered. > \*\* > Part of the problem is that they are not easily accessible. Compared to soccer, hockey or basketball, where the structure of the game is very straightforward – one team tries to propel an object into the opposing team’s net or basket -\*\*- baseball and football have not-immediately-obvious systems of “strikes”, “bases”, “downs” and so on. These are not mere details; they are the fundamental mechanics of the game. A casual viewer who’s never seen the game cannot immediately work out what’s going on. If you’re American and you have chanced upon a game of cricket on TV, you will probably know what it feels like. It’s not that these games are incredibly complicated, but nevertheless that initial barrier to understanding is enough to deter much of the potential audience. > > So I think that baseball and football will continue to be a hard sell to a truly global audience, just as cricket is. Basketball has a much better chance and does indeed seem to be more popular globally. Ice hockey seems pointless when you already have soccer, and I don’t see it catching on in tropical countires. Other than “downs” football has this exact objective! ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/122 "2011-05-07T21:09:35Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Americans broadcast their sporting events around the world to hook other countries. The Yankees are known around the world. Baseball is played in lots of countries and broadcast in more. Same for NFL football. The SuperBowl transcends the sport,. When Micheal Jordan was playing in Chicago ,he captured much of the worlds interest. > America is a huge audience. You can not dismiss them as inconsequential because they are not a bigger part of the worlds population. I doubt people in Borneo care about Man U. This post is actually unintentionally hilarious. Borneo is divded between Malayasia, Indonesia and Brunei and in all 3 of those countries Man Utd is huge news. I would infact go as far as to say it’s very likely Man Utd are the most popular and well-known sporting team on the island of Borneo. For example, here’s an article from the Brunei Times about fans queueing up to meet Bryan Robson (whose heydey at Man Utd was over 20 years ago) in Brunei: [http://bruneitimes.com.bn/happenings/2011/02/19/manchester-utd-legend-meets-and-greets-fans](http://bruneitimes.com.bn/happenings/2011/02/19/manchester-utd-legend-meets-and-greets-fans) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/123 "2011-05-07T21:16:19Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Other than “downs” football has this exact objective! Yes, but as I said the “downs” are not a mere detail. To someone unfamiliar with football, you have the baffling situation in which one team has the ball, advances with it over the course of a few plays, then surrenders it to the other team for no apparent reason. Or sometimes they just punt the ball up the field. To people accustomed to simpler games, it seems like such a waste! What’s more, an entirely new set of players then comes on the field. Who are all these guys? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/124 "2011-05-07T21:32:22Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Any list without Manchester United on it is an incomplete list indeed… Put it this way: If _I’ve_ heard of Manchester United, it’s gotta be famous as all hell. I am (a) an American, which means I’ve never heard of anything happening outside the borders of the US, and (2) not a sports person, which means I’ve never heard of pretty much anything other than the Yankees and Red Sox. So, yeah, Manchester United has to be on any list that isn’t US-only. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/125 "2011-05-07T21:41:10Z")
I’m actually curious about this: how have all you Americans heard of Manchester United? Is it something to do with David Beckham? Or was the club (or at least its name) already well known? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/126 "2011-05-07T21:56:41Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > I’m actually curious about this: how have all you Americans heard of Manchester United? Is it something to do with David Beckham? Or was the club (or at least its name) already well known? We don’t _follow_ soccer, but we _can_ name a couple teams in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/127 "2011-05-07T22:17:13Z")
Yeah, but in what context do you hear the names? I’m just comparing it to how people over here know the names of American teams. I would say that the Yankees are known from merchandise, caps and T-shirts, and maybe pop-culture references such as in TV shows. Other American teams, I have only heard about through having a vague interest in sports. For example, I know about the Red Sox because of the “curse”, and I know of various NFL football teams because I occasionally watch it on Channel 4 or 5 or whatever it is (very late at night, though). ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/128 "2011-05-07T23:32:16Z")
Top 4 is easy: Yankees Manchester United Real Madrid Lakers After that… maybe the Red Sox? Barcelona? Ferrari and Red Bull don’t fit the spirit of the question imo. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/129 "2011-05-08T00:05:00Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > Top 4 is easy: > > Yankees > Manchester United > Real Madrid > Lakers > > After that… maybe the Red Sox? Barcelona? > > Ferrari and Red Bull don’t fit the spirit of the question imo. I’m still not convinced that Yankees belong at that list. I’m sure there’s lots of people aware of them as a cultural reference in US film, TV, etc, but I’d you looked at those who had heard of the “New York Yankees” in such a way you’d find most probably couldn’t tell you which sport they played and even less who could tell you a single one of their players. In terms of US teams with Worldwide recognition, you’re probably on much safer ground with basketball teams, though I would say the Chicago Bulls even if their glory days are behind them. I would say: Manchester Utd Real Madrid Barcelona A C Milan Chicago Bulls ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/130 "2011-05-08T00:10:13Z")
Man United. Real Madrid The soccer team that ate people (you said famous, not popular or successful) Green Bay Packers 1980 US Olympic hockey team (Go Sioux!) ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/131 "2011-05-08T00:25:45Z")
I cannot understand why so many people think the Lakers would be on this list? I really cant. I know quite a bit about American culture, I have been there a couple of times, I read sites like this, I follow the sports. Certainly I am more informed than the average housewife in Vienna, clerk in Mumbai or driver in China. I know who the Patriots quarterback is, who was first pick in the draft, who LeBron James is, who A-Rod is. And the single thing I know about the LA Lakers is that they are a basketball team. I know more than the average non-US citizen about American sports, yet supposedly some team that is a name and nothing more to me, this team is one of the biggest and most famous in the world, and everybody in the world knows this except me? I would wager that the Lakers are as famous as the Seatle Seahawks, ie: people only know them because they have those silly basketball names that match. Us foreigners know the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Chicago Bulls, and the Dallas cowboys, we dont know the Lakers! ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/132 "2011-05-08T00:28:04Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Red Wings have to have some exposure in Sweden and Russia after the Fetisov/Larianov/Federov eras and the Lidstrom/Zetterburg eras. Obviously I cant speak for Sweden or Russia, but I just said “who” six times reading your post. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/133 "2011-05-08T00:30:36Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I cannot understand why so many people think the Lakers would be on this list? I really cant. > > I know quite a bit about American culture, I have been there a couple of times, I read sites like this, I follow the sports. Certainly I am more informed than the average housewife in Vienna, clerk in Mumbai or driver in China. > > I know who the Patriots quarterback is, who was first pick in the draft, who LeBron James is, who A-Rod is. And the single thing I know about the LA Lakers is that they are a basketball team. > > I know more than the average non-US citizen about American sports, yet supposedly some team that is a name and nothing more to me, this team is one of the biggest and most famous in the world, and everybody in the world knows this except me? > > I would wager that the Lakers are as famous as the Seatle Seahawks, ie: people only know them because they have those silly basketball names that match. Us foreigners know the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Chicago Bulls, and the Dallas cowboys, we dont know the Lakers! **Bucketybuck** -Are you a basketball fan?? I assume not, because that’s the only reasonable explanation for your ignorance of the Lakers. BTW, the Lakers have the 2nd most NBA titles, the Seahwaks have been moribund for most of their existence. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/134 "2011-05-08T00:35:53Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > **Bucketybuck** -Are you a basketball fan?? I assume not, because that’s the only reasonable explanation for your ignorance of the Lakers. BTW, the Lakers have the 2nd most NBA titles, the Seahwaks have been moribund for most of their existence. Well no, I am not a basketball fan, but then, I would suggest most of the world arent basketball fans. We are talking about the most famous teams in the world. Teams like the Yankees and Man Utd can be shown to have reached a point where non-fans know who they are. If I need to be an actual bona-fide fan to know who the Lakers are, well then that kind of proves the point. I am not ignorant of basketball. I know LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, I remember Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, the Bulls. I know dick about the Lakers, thats how famous they are. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/135 "2011-05-08T00:48:28Z")
Know how during title games both teams have t-shirts and stuff printed up, then the stuff from the losing team gets written off and donated to poor countries? Thinking maybe about including the Buffalo Bills. Again, the OP didn’t ask for good or successful teams. Just famous, meaning known by a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/136 "2011-05-08T00:50:03Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Well no, I am not a basketball fan, but then, I would suggest most of the world arent basketball fans. We are talking about the most famous teams in the world. Teams like the Yankees and Man Utd can be shown to have reached a point where non-fans know who they are. If I need to be an actual bona-fide fan to know who the Lakers are, well then that kind of proves the point. > > I am not ignorant of basketball. I know LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, I remember Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, the Bulls. I know dick about the Lakers, thats how famous they are. You know about Kobe (a Laker) and Shaq (a former Laker) yet don’t know about the Lakers? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/137 "2011-05-08T00:50:28Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Well no, I am not a basketball fan, but then, I would suggest most of the world arent basketball fans. We are talking about the most famous teams in the world. Teams like the Yankees and Man Utd can be shown to have reached a point where non-fans know who they are. If I need to be an actual bona-fide fan to know who the Lakers are, well then that kind of proves the point. > > I am not ignorant of basketball. I know LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, I remember Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, the Bulls. I know dick about the Lakers, thats how famous they are. Kobe and Shaq (and Magic Johnson) all played for the Lakers. That said to be fair Lakers do have one of those generic US sports names that doesn’t really identitfy them. I disagree about the Yankees, despite that baseball does have popularity in a few countries outside of the USA, it is such a marginal sport in most places that i don’t think any baseball team could rightly be thought of as one of the most famous sporting teams in the World. Basketball on the other hand, though it generally has to play second fiddle to other sports around the World, still enjoys a measure of popularity in most parts of the World and is one of the World’s major participation sports. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/138 "2011-05-08T03:00:47Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I cannot understand why so many people think the Lakers would be on this list? I really cant. Ditto. While it is only one country, I’ll bet the percentage of people in my home country of the UK that have heard of the Lakers is in low single digits. I expect more have heard of the Chicago Bulls, because of Michael Jordan. While the Lakers are undoubtedly very successful and very well known amongst basketball fans, they do not transcend the sport in the way that the Yankees and Man. Utd do theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/139 "2011-05-08T03:33:11Z")
It’s hard to find accurate tv ratings, but by some sources more people in China watched some of the Yao Ming vs Lakers games than the entire population of the US. And that’s just the ones who watched the games, not who read about them. Yao was the most popular athlete in China and had an enormous following, which coincided with the Kobe-and-Shaq Lakers being the big stars of the NBA, and playing Yao in the playoffs. The NBA itself has gotten more high profile around the world due to having more international players than ever, and once again the Lakers have been the top team during that fame expansion. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804/140 "2011-05-08T03:42:50Z")
Manchester United Real Madrid New York Yankees FC Barcelona Liverpool FC /American, fan of soccer, football, baseball, and basketball [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-say-are-the-top-5-most-famous-sports-teams-in-the-world/580804.md?page=8)