EL CLÁSICO
Real Madrid world support almost double Barça's
Los Blancos have 2,311 supporters' groups across the globe compared to the blaugranas' 1,254; but the main difference is in mainland Spain.
As far as officially-registered supporters' clubs are concerned, Real Madrid have the upper hand over Barça. The Catalans may be 10 points clear at LaLiga summit, and have a vastly superior success rate at winning silverware over the past few years but even that cannot slow down the passion for Los Blancos around the world. Real Madrid have 2,311 fully-registered supporters' clubs on the planet (according to the club's 2014-15 annual report) compared to 1,254 groups affiliated groups registered by Barcelona (stats from the club's official web page). That's a difference of 1,057 in favour of the madridistas.
Yet Madrid's overwhelming victory in the supporters stakes isn't quite as universal as some club directors would like to believe. Madrid's superiority is largely down to their fanbase on mainland Spain. Madrid have over a thousand more supporters groups in Spain than Barcelona (2,158 compared to 1,151), while the difference outside of Spain is reduced to just 50 (153 compared to 103). The trend in Spain has grown for Madrid but decreased for Barça, despite all of their successes on the field.
Both clubs have large following around the world. Real Madrid has a presence in 69 countries comapred to Barça's 51 and Los Blancos have more 'peñas' in every continent apart from Oceania, where they have the same number of supporters' groups. The stats reveals some interesting details. For example, the country with the most Madrid 'peñas' outside of Spain is Switzerland, birthplace of Barça founder Joan Gamper. Switzerland, together with Morocco, is also where Barça have their largest fanbase. Madrid don't have a presence in Argentina (Messi territory) and are level with Barça in Portugal (Cristiano's homeland). It's also worthwhile to take a look at how both club's pre-season tours have attracted new fans. Although the players complained about the most recent US tour, Madrid's trips stateside have created 12 new peñas there. Barça, who went a little later last summer, have six...