5 Football Clubs With The Highest Fans In Nigeria

Which are the football Clubs with the highest fans in Nigeria? Which football club has the most fans in Nigeria? Which football club has the biggest fanbase in Africa? Which football club has the most fans in the world? Which club has the highest number of fans in Africa?

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Football Clubs With The Most Fans In Nigeria

Liverpool F.C.

Top on my list of football clubs with the highest fans in Nigeria is Liverpool. Even though they lost the 2021/22 Premier League title to Manchester City by just a single point, the number of Liverpool fans in Nigeria is overwhelming. The Reds are one of the clubs with the oldest fans in Nigeria.

Liverpool Football Club, founded 129 years ago on the 3rd of June 1892, have so far won 19 League titles, three UEFA Cups, eight FA Cups, six European Cups, a record nine League Cups, four UEFA Super Cups, fifteen FA Community Shields and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Their current Manager, Jürgen Klopp, who is one of the EPL winning managers, appears to be the best Liverpool has had in recent times.

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Luis Díaz, Thiago Alcântara, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Virgil van Dijk are some of the top players the Merseyside football club boast of.

You can download Liverpool’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” anthem on Mp3 for your listening pleasure.

Some of the club’s officials include:

• Owner: Fenway Sports Group
  Honorary life president: David Moores
• Principal owner: John W. Henry
  Chairman: Tom Werner

Manchester United F.C

They are currently not doing well in all league competitions, even with the re-introduction of Cristiano Ronaldo last summer for €15m (£12.9m) with add-ons of up to €8m (£6.8m). They were sixth on the EPL table in the just-concluded season. Hope their newly appointed manager, Erik ten Hag will be able to turn the tides around.

But somehow, many Nigerians still support Man United – guess you can say they are diehard fans of the club. One out of three Nigerian football fans you meet probably supports the Old Trafford club.

Man Utd is one of the two clubs with the loudest, largest, and most aggressive fans in Nigeria with their Nigeria fan base increasing by the day.

The Red Devils have won a record 20 League titles, won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles three times, 12 FA Cups, five League Cups, one UEFA Europa League, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, one FIFA Club World Cup and a record 21 FA Community Shields. See their total trophies list here.

United, which was founded initially as Newton Heath LYR F.C. 144 years ago in 1878 before being renamed Manchester United F.C 120 years ago in 1902, is currently owned by Manchester United plc with Co-chairmen as Joel and Avram Glazer.

You can download the “Glory Glory Man United” Song on Mp3 and also see the Lyrics as you find along.

Chelsea F.C.

After you’ve removed Manchester United and Liverpool, the next football club with the highest number of fans in Nigeria is Chelsea.

When it comes to football clubs with the most fans in Nigeria, Chelsea, alongside Manchester United, has the biggest and loudest fans in the country.

You don’t believe me? Visit any football viewing center in Nigeria (or beer parlour) and see how supporters usually have verbal clashes, even in games that neither team are playing.

Most times whenever Chelsea is playing, half of the people watching in viewing centers are United fans, the same goes for when Manchester United are playing.

Chelsea Football Club, which was founded 117 years ago on the 10th of March 1905, are the fourth most successful club in English football.

They have won six league titles, two European Cups, eight FA Cups, two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups, two UEFA Cups, two UEFA Super Cups, five League Cups, one FIFA Club World Cup and four FA Community Shields.

Their Head coach, Thomas Tuchel played a key role in turning the fortunes of the Blues around recently as they currently sit third on the EPL table in the 2021-22 season.

A consortium led by Todd Boehly recently took over ownership of Chelsea from Roman Abramovich due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

F.C. Barcelona

Lionel Messi is the major reason Nigerian fans support Barcelona in the Spanish LaLiga. But since his exit from the Catalan giants to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2021, the fanbase from Nigeria for Barca seems to be reducing. And it’s not like the Nigerian football fans moved with him to PSG anyway!

Hopefully, with Barcelona’s new Head coach, Xavi, the club’s fortunes could turn around when he starts buying fresh players to compete in the top flight in Spain.

However, there are still a lot of Blaugrana fans in Nigeria, just as there are haters.

Barcelona trophies list includes 26 La Liga trophies, five UEFA Champions League titles, 31 Copa del Rey, two Copa de la Liga titles, four UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups, thirteen Supercopa de España, five UEFA Super Cups, three Copa Eva Duarte, three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, and three FIFA Club World Cups.

Pep Guardiola was one of the managers who brought those honours to Barcelona in all of the club’s 122 years of existence since 29 November 1899. Here is his own trophies list.

Barca sit 2nd on the LaLiga table in the just concluded 2021/22 season.

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal’s invincible status in the 2002/2003 English Premier League season when they didn’t lose a single match, got them so many fans in Nigeria. The Gunners remain the only team in the world to ever finish a league season without losing a single game. Here is a list of all EPL winners ever.

However, after this feat, the club simply declined steadily and is no longer considered among title contenders in the EPL. But in the 2021-22 season, they were 5th on the EPL table thanks to their Manager, Mikel Arteta.

Nevertheless, their Nigeria fans, who are known for their unshakable loyalty, will undoubtedly hope that the team gets restored to its previous height.

Arsenal Football Club, since it was founded 135 years ago October 1886, has won 13 league titles, 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 16 FA Community Shields, the League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

You can download the Arsenal theme song and anthem if you’re interested.

Arsenal is owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment with American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke as the largest shareholder on the club’s board.

Before I end this top five football Clubs with the highest fans in Nigeria article, let me take you through who the top Nigerian football clubs with the most fans are.

Nigeria Football Clubs With The Most Fans

Rangers International Football Club

As one of the oldest clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League [NPFL], Enugu Rangers’ rivalry with Enyimba FC makes both clubs the most common names on the lips of supporters.

The Flying Antelopes was founded 52 years ago in 1970 and have won the NPFL seven times (1974, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1984, 2016); Nigerian FA Cup six times (1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983, 2018); Nigerian Super Cup once (2004); and the African Cup Winners’ Cup once (1977).

Enugu Rangers’ chairman is Davidson Owumi and their current coach is Salisu Yusuf.

The 2021-22 NPFL season see them sit 7th place on the table. Note that they are the only team never to have been relegated.

Christian Chukwu, Augustine Azuka “Jay-Jay” Okocha and Emmanuel Okala are some of the players to have come out of Enugu Rangers International Football Club.

Plateau United Football Club

Fans of this Jos based football Club have been tagged as too aggressive with rival team players who come to their home ground.

They have a penchant for throwing targeted objects at rival players, however, it’s local food items and not rocks they throw.

Plateau Utd is one of Nigeria’s most controversial football Club and have this continuous ability to draw the attention of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), leading to more awareness and increased fan support.

Founded in 1975 as JIB Strikers FC, Plateau United, who won the NPFL in 2017, and topped the table when the league was stopped due to COVID19 in 2020, have crazy fans who are just as controversial as the club.

Some of the prominent players that came out of Plateau United FC include Chris Obodo, Celestine Babayaro, Mikel John Obi and Victor Obinna.

Pius Henwan is the Chairman of Plateau Utd with Abdu Maikaba as their current manager.

The club sit 9th on the 2020–21 Nigeria Professional Football League table.

Akwa United Football Club

Nigerians hardly support local league clubs but Akwa United Football Club of Uyo has been able to hold its own weight in terms of fans.

Their newly built Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, somehow, some way, can be said to be linked to the turnaround in supporters which has made Akwa Utd one of the most popular Nigerian football clubs in recent times..

This modern and standard facility 30,000 capacity stadium turned a lot of attention to The Promise Keepers, with indigenes more willing to support the team.

Awka United fans, anywhere you find them, always boast of the beauty of their stadium and the titles they’ve won so far which include being Nigeria Professional Football League Champions in 2020–21; Nigeria FA Cup Winners in 2015 and 2017; and Nigeria Super Cup Winners in 2015.

The club, which was founded 26 years ago in 1996, is owned and run by the Akwa Ibom State Government with their Chairman being Paul Bassey, and Ayodeji Ayeni as their manager.

Kano Pillars F.C.

Where to place Kano pillars and the club that follows when talking about Nigerian Clubs with the highest fans, is a bit dicey. Some argue that Sai Masu Gida should definitely stand at the top of the list.

There is hardly a Kano indigene that is not a hard-core fan of the Pillars.

Kano Pillars Football Club has some of the oldest Nigerian football supporters as they have a history that is as old as the Nigeria football league since it was part of the first three clubs that formed the league in 1990.

They have very old fans that will tell you, without mincing words, all the history of the NPFL.

Nevertheless, the Club still has a lot of younger generation fans who are just as loyal, especially with their home games.

Pillars have are Nigerian Premier League Champions four times (2007–08, 2011–12, 2013, and 2014); Nigerian FA Cup Winners twice (2019 and 1953) and Nigerian super cup winners in 2008.

Kano Pillars’ Chairman is Alhaji Surajo Yahaya Jambul, while their Manager is Ibrahim A. Musa.

During the 2020–21 Nigeria Professional Football League, they sat 6th on the table.

Enyimba Football Club

The Aba based club is undoubtedly one of the best football clubs in Nigeria and one of the most successful clubs.

When it comes to the Oriental derby, (it features Enyimba against Rangers international) Enyimba fans usually go wild.

The People’s Elephant have the largest fanbase in Nigeria, if you doubt me, look around, in every four supporters of the Nigeria football league, one of them is always an Enyimba supporter. 

On the domestic scene, Enyimba F.C. have won the Nigerian Premier League 8 times (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009–10, 2015, 2019); the Nigerian FA Cup four times (2005, 2009, 2013, 2014); National Second Division Champions in 1993; Nigerian Super Cup four times (2001, 2003, 2010, 2013).

And on the International stage, The Aba Warriors are CAF Champions League Champions twice (2003, and 2004); CAF Super Cup Champions twice as well in 2004 and 2005.

All of this achievement, which makes Enyimba the most successful West African club in the last two decades, has contributed to an increased fan base for The People’s Elephant.

Vincent Enyeama, Obinna Nwaneri, Uche Kalu, Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Dele Aiyenugba are some o the notable players that have donned Enyimba’s jersey before.

Founded 46 years ago in 1976, Enyimba FC is owned by the Abia State Government with Felix Anyansi-Agwu as the Chairman and Finidi George as Manager.

The 2020–21 Nigeria Professional Football League saw them sit 3rd on the table.

This article was updated 3 days ago