A study conducted by Dr. Peter Rohlmann shows that Real Madrid and Manchester United are topping the charts in terms of number of club shirts sold every year. Respectively, the two clubs are sponsored by Adidas and Nike, hereby, the two sports giants clearly make their mark in the top of shirt sales. Check out where the rest of the top clubs are placed on the list, is your club doing well in the chart?

The study is based on total shirt sales from the last five years until, and including the 2011/2012 season. The average shirt sale per year has been calculated for the respective clubs. All of the huge teams are represented, but how many shirts did you expect that your favourite team could sell every year?

As previously mentioned, Manchester United are topping the Nike chart with an average yearly sale of no less than 1,4 million shirts. Second place goes to FC Barcelona, who have an average sale of 1,15 million shirts on a yearly basis. The Spanish vice-champions have had increasing shirt sales over the last few years due to their great success on the pitch, and are now closing in on The Red Devils. According to Manchester United, they have sold more than 2 million shirts last year, which might very well be correct, if the sale is counted from summer to summer. The shirt sale tends to increase during the summer due to player transfers and new shirts being presented.

Looking at the top sellers with Adidas, we find the Spanish champions from Real Madrid at the very top. Similar to Manchester United, Real Madrid have managed to sell no less than 1,4 million shirts on average every year. The king club has always been among the most popular shirts and are sitting well at the top of the Adidas sale list. In the runner up position we find the Champions League Champions from Chelsea.

Chelsea have had great success last year, winning both the FA Cup and the Champions League, which has also had a positive effect on the shirt sale. Earlier, Chelsea were sharing the Adidas second place together with Liverpool, who were then sponsored by Adidas. Bayern Munich were also right alongside with both Chelsea and Liverpool in the battle for the second place, but as the statistics show, Chelsea have managed to increase their shirt sales enough to get well ahead of the two others in the battle. Chelsea have introduced some pretty spectacular transfers over the last years including, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Fernando Torres and more, who have surely contributed to the huge success of the club, and they seem to be able to keep the high level, do you think they can keep the high level?

Bayern Munich continue to claim their position as the best selling German club, and is the only German club in the Adidas top five. Liverpool, on the other hand, have shown a decrease in shirt sales, compared to the year before. This might have been somewhat expected, as it has been known that the Merseyside club was going to switch shirt provider to American Warrior Sports. Therefore, it will be very interesting to see how the huge club from the northern part of England will perform, in terms of their shirt sale, the coming year. Will it increase or decrease?

The remaining positions are held by The Gunners closely followed by the Italian top clubs. Arsenal sells an average of 800.000 shirts each year, and the closest competitor to their position is Juventus, who have an average yearly shirt sale of 480.00 shirts, 'just' half the Arsenal quantity. Although, the Italian champions from Juventus are still the best selling Italian club, ahead of Inter and AC Milan.

Source: www.sportingintelligence.com

You may have thought that the yearly shirt sale from the top clubs in world would be in the millions, but in fact very few clubs can deliver that kind of sales. Do the charts look like you would have expected? Are you surprised or not at all? Feel free to leave us your comment in the box just below.