Official kit suppliers for giant clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Bayern, Juventus, Benfica and Ajax, adidas leads all brands in potential social media exposition. According to "The European Football Club Report", put together by Italian group IQUII Sport, the German manufacturer currently reaches a total fanbase of 12.0 billion social media users. The number is slightly higher than the 11.3 billion users reached by second-placed Nike.

The study takes into account numbers from 288 European football clubs across four social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Over one fifth of adidas' numbers come from their partnership with Real Madrid. The Merengues alone have a total fanbase of 273.4 million. Next in line for adidas are Manchester United (168.1), Juventus (110.6) and FC Bayern (94.2). These four clubs lead their respective leagues in social media engagement.

For Nike, the biggest impact comes from Barcelona and their 265.1 million fans. Perennial Champions League-contender PSG adds 122.2 million, with Chelsea (107.1) and Liverpool (102.6) right behind. In Germany, the American brand doesn't come close to adidas-Bayern numbers, but they supply Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig, the fastest-growing clubs in social media engagement in the country. From March to April 2022, Frankfurt grew 2.22% while Bayern had 0.72% in the same category.

Third place in the social media exposure ranking belongs to Puma, with 3.2 a potencial fanbase of 3.2 million users. Their top-rated clubs with online presence are Manchester City (86.9), AC Milan (46.5), Borussia Dortmund (36.0) and Olympique Marseille (13.2).

In their report, IQUII Sport takes into account 10 countries: England, Russia, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ukraine. They claim to analyse numbers from 15 leagues and 288 clubs. Their latest numbers - the ones mentioned in this article - are from March 14 to April 11, 2022.