In terms of star power, La Liga has enough to more than compete with the Premier League – but who do the fans love the most?
Spanish sports-paper Marca recently released the top-selling hero shirts for each of the La Liga clubs (excluding Sporting Gijon and Granada), giving us a pretty nifty insight into which players shift the most football shirts.
Club | Player |
Atletico Madrid | Falcao |
Athletic Bilbao | Llorente |
Barcelona | Messi |
Real Betis | Roque Santa Cruz |
Espanyol | Dani Jarque |
Getafe | Pedro Leon |
Granada | N/A |
Levante | Ballasteros |
Malaga | Santi Cazorla |
Mallorca | Laudrup |
Osasuna | Raul Garcia |
Racing Santander | Munitis |
Real Madrid | Cristiano Ronaldo |
Rayo Vallecano | Michu |
Real Sociedad | Griezmann |
Sevilla | Negredo |
Sporting Gijon | N/A |
Valencia | Soldado |
Villarreal | Rossi |
Real Zaragoza | Ponzio |
As many of you probably guessed, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi come out on top for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. Whilst Andres Iniesta will have undoubtedly have shifted plenty of shirts in Spain thanks to his World Cup winning goal, the crafty midfielder can’t compete with the global megastar-dom of Ronaldo and Messi.
Also interesting is how many of the summer’s signings have leaped to the top of the pile for their respective clubs, with new Puma football boots signing Falcao being taken straight to the heart of Atletico fans, and Santi Cazorla beating off competition from Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Even season-long loanee and Mizuno football boots-endorser Roque Santa Cruz has come out on top of shirt sales with Real Betis supporters.
However, some supporters buck the trend, opting away from goal-scoring forwards and tricky wingers. Levante fans, for example, most commonly plump for' hard-man centre-back Sergio Ballasteros.
Touchingly, Dani Jarque remains the top selling hero shirt two years after his tragic death, with Espanyol fans still paying tribute to their former Italian centre-half.
Any surprises there? Let us know in the comments!
Interesting that Laudrup is top for Mallorca – reckon they’re trying to send a message to the board?
Surprised that Forlan didn’t top the Atletico charts, but then again he did arrive on deadline day!
forlan is gone…