Analysis:
In Spain it is clear to most people that the two by far dominating clubs and the two by far most popular clubs are Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In Italy the by far most successful clubs and also the most popular ones are the Milan duo AC and Inter and the Torino club Juventus. But in the case of Germany it is probably not so clear which is the second club. FC Bayern is by far the most successful German club. It is probably also well-perceived that FC Bayern is the most popular club around Germany and is THE force in German football.
But what might come as a bigger surprise is that the second most popular team in Germany is not a German team but …. Real Madrid followed by FC Barcelona.
Most popular soccer team in Germany – FC Bayern .. then Real Madrid

The second most popular German club is SV Werder Bremen which has been statistically the second best team in Germany in the first decade of the 21st century. While the second best German club during the 1990s Borrusia Dortmund comes in the third.

According to the survey FC Barcelona is the most popular club European wide while Real Madrid comes in second followed by Manchester United. FC Bayern is 6th. 4th and 5th might be Arsenal and AC Milan but it is not mentioned exactly in the article used as reference (see the link above). Liverpool, Juventus, and Inter probably have a more regional fanbase since their prime time was before soccer took off as a big industry and with Champions League during the early 1990s. A lot of fan affiliation started to shift during this period of time from the local, regional, or national perspective to become more international. The outcome for many would be to support the local team + one or more of the big clubs internationally (or nationally depending on where one lives). Success and star players are crucial in this process of fan formation and the most successful clubs during the 1990s and 2000s have been Manchester United and Arsenal in England. Barca and Madrid in Spain. AC Milan and partly Juventus in Italy. FC Bayern in Germany and to a certain extent Borrusia Dortmund though their success quickly faded.

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