BLOG | by YouGov Sport

European football’s biggest Buzz movers for March 2022

Each month, YouGov Sport highlights the football clubs that saw the biggest month-over-month increase in Buzz scores in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France.

A club’s Buzz score is a net measure based on responses to two questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following teams have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following teams have you heard something negative about?”. By calculating the difference between these two scores, we create our Buzz metric.

UK

Manchester United (+9.5), still in search of a new permanent manager, is in sixth place in the Premier League standings as of this writing, but in first place on our list in the United Kingdom, registering the highest month-over-month increase in Buzz among all football clubs. West Ham United (+8.6), Arsenal (+4.3), Liverpool (+4.3), and Tottenham Hotspur (+2.9) also saw notable Buzz score increase this month in the UK.

Spain

Moving to Spain, we see football clubs making significant gains. FC Barcelona, now managed by Xavi, has not lost a match since December. This streak has no doubt contributed to the club’s massive 17.5-point month-over-month Buzz score increase. Real Madrid, currently atop the La Liga standings by a significant margin, registered a 12.7-point increase. Atletico Madrid (+9.9), Valencia (+4.5), and Osasuna (+2.4) also made Buzz score gains this month.

Germany

Overall, football clubs posted modest increases in Germany, with Borussia Mönchengladbach (+4.9) making the biggest strides this month, despite being miles away from championship contention. Other clubs that saw score increases in Germany are Eintracht Frankfurt (+4), Barcelona (+3.2), SG 1899 Hoffenheim (+2.6), and 1. FC Nürnberg (+2.6).

France

The success of Real Madrid (+7.3) this season has reverberated into France, where the club tops the list of those with the highest Buzz score increase. Others on the French list include Nantes (+6.7), Barcelona (+4.6), Manchester City (+2.6) and LOSC (+2.3).

Italy

Finally, Barcelona’s reign in Spain knows no borders, its 6.5-point Buzz score hike earning them the top spot among football fans in Italy, slightly ahead of Real Madrid (+6). S.S. Lazio (+5.1), ACF Fiorentina (+4.3), and U.S. Sassuolo (+4), who all also saw notable increases this month.

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Methodology: YouGov FootballIndex collects data on every major club. Buzz score is based on the questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following teams have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following teams have you heard something negative about?” and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Scores reported represent the chance between the 30-day daily average between Jan. 24, 2021 – Feb. 23, 2021 and Feb. 24 – March 23, 2022. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 889-932 in Italy, 2,098-2,211 in the UK, 612-678 in Spain, 496- 545 in France, and 1,287-1,355 in Germany. Daily figures are based on a four-week moving average.