The World's Best Selling Club Football Shirts
It comes as no surprise to learn Manchester United and Real Madrid top global shirt sales. But it's interesting to see, unlike popular beliefs, that teams do not sell millions of jerseys each year at least not when it comes to official merchandise.
The top 3 clubs in the world when it comes to official replica shirts sales, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona, combine for just under 4 million shirt sales in a season. Not as much as you might think in terms of revenue, but then these clubs also receive a huge amount in revenue from their kit sponsorship deals. 
Manchester United are the leading Nike side, with an average of 1.4 million sales over the past five seasons, but in the same period have received around £25.4 million a season from Nike. Barcelona are ahead of them in terms of sponsorship money for the jerseys, making upwards of £26 million a season. A fee which is surprisingly matched closely by Liverpool, who despite a few disappointing seasons retain a lucrative contract, receiving £25 million annually from Warrior. 
The biggest contract is handed out by adidas, paying Real Madrid an average of £30 million per year. Real Madrid lead all European clubs, and the adidas team have been selling on average 1.4 million jerseys over the past five seasons. Madrid have received a substantial boost since the return of a Galactico era with star names like Ronaldo and Kaka, and for adidas we can expect an increase from European Champions Chelsea.
Teams to just miss out on the top ten include Dortmund, Marseille, Manchester City and PSG, all selling over 250,000 units and all we can expect to see increase over the coming years. Dortmund are of course PUMA's biggest representative when it comes to club shirt sales.
Source: Dr Peter Rohlmann / www.pr-marketing.de NB. Shirt sales only. Does not include other merchandise: kit, boots bags, balls etc. *Liverpool have since switched away from adidas to Warrior.
Let us know what you think of the sales figures for replica, which does raise the issue of frequency for teams and kit suppliers to release new shirts. Join the conversation and share your opinions online, on Twitter and on Facebook.
