The UK's most football-obsessed city named, and it may surprise you

The UK city with the most obsessed football fans has finally been revealed … and its bad news for Londoners, Liverpudlians and Mancunians. Analysts at NordicBet looked at the number of Google searches of 161 soccer-related keywords carried out by residents in the 44 biggest cities across Britain, to see how fanatical they were about the sport.

Total annual numbers were adjusted based on population size to make fair comparisons between huge metropolises like London and Birmingham with smaller cities like Norwich, Exeter or Lincoln. Newcastle takes the crown as having the most football-obsessed fans with 1.07 million annual searches (adjusted to 55,878 per 10K residents) – another success for the city which recently secured its first domestic trophy in 70 years and boasting celebrity fans like Ant and Dec.

The Geordies win was made even sweeter knowing their searches were 15 times more than bitter next-door neighbour rivals, Sunderland (3,702 per 10k residents).

London boasts the highest number of searches, with 13.82 million, but ends up ninth on the table due to their huge 7.5 million population, adjusted to 18,295 searches per 10,000 residents.

So instead the second most football-obsessed city title goes to Manchester - home of Pep Guardiola's City and Ruben Amorim's United - with 52,995 football-related searches per 10k locals (a total of 2.09 million searches.)

Third was the West Midlands metropolis of Birmingham with their strong soccer searches of 29,569 per 10k residents adjusted from their total annual searches of 2.91 million.

Coming first in the League One table, Birmingham fans search nearly 7.5 times more for football content than rivals High Wycombe, which recorded 3,908 searches per 10,000.

Leeds takes fourth place with 27,733 football related searches per 10k with a total of over 1.26 million searches in 12 months - 50,000 were for “football scores today”, and a further 50,000 for “football results” showing their obsession with football.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Nottingham cam bottom out of the 44 cities with a lowly 2,079 searches per 10,000 residents - unexpected considering Nottingham Forest and manager Nuno Espirito Santo's side is currently a surprise fourth in the Premier League table.

Philip Hakansson, Commercial Manager at NordicBet, said: "The obsession with football goes far beyond the sporting aspect – it’s an expression of pride, belonging and collective emotion.

"From the Premier League to local leagues, the fast-paced nature of the game has become deeply woven into the social and cultural fabric of the country.

"In cities like Newcastle and Manchester, specifically, where search volumes are exceptionally high, football clearly forms part of the city’s identity.

"Even in London, despite its sheer size, the number of searches shows how widespread and diverse the passion is. Our findings show that for many, football is not just a weekend activity.

"It's part of their daily lives, conversations and sense of belonging."