Top football clubs have been using streaming platforms for years to boost their brand, promote sponsors, and engage with fans. Livestreams have become a valuable addition to the other content supporters enjoy on their favorite team’s social media. In this article, Streams Charts ranks football clubs by their follower counts on YouTube and Twitch, and highlights examples of the content they share.
It's worth noting that almost all top-tier football teams have their own YouTube channels, which serve as the primary platform for visual content like highlights, match reviews, fan segments, and more. However, not every club uses its channel for livestreams. In many cases, it's just a video platform for regular shows and series. As a result, a channel might have millions of subscribers, but only a few dozen viewers for its livestreams. This imbalance is due to varying strategies for content promotion and consumption: some teams prioritize live broadcasts, while others mainly post pre-recorded videos.
Twitch typically reaches less than 5% of a club's total livestreaming follower count. It's primarily reserved for promoting esports teams that represent the football brand. For example, you’ll find streams of tournaments like EA Sports FC25 or eFootball, and occasionally, the players themselves will stream their gaming sessions as many enjoy comparing their stats in football simulators. The platform's lower popularity in the football world is highlighted by the fact that clubs often don’t even list their Twitch channels on their official websites, in the contact or social media sections.
The most popular football clubs on YouTube and Twitch
Barcelona and Real Madrid lead the way in follower counts on streaming platforms, with 20.7 million and 17 million followers, respectively. In comparison, all the other La Liga clubs together have fewer than 10 million followers on YouTube and Twitch, underscoring the gap between them and the Spanish powerhouses. It’s no wonder that the "El Clásico" between Barcelona and Real Madrid is considered the one of the most popular rivalry in modern football.
The top 10 features four clubs from the Premier League, with Liverpool leading the pack as the most popular English team, having over 11 million followers on YouTube. Juventus tops the list among Italian clubs, while PSG takes the highest spot among French teams.
What’s interesting is that PSG has the most popular Twitch channel of all football clubs, with more than 530,000 followers. This is largely due to their strong focus on esports in recent years, especially with teams competing in games like Dota 2, League of Legends, FIFA, and others.
Flamengo from Rio de Janeiro is the most popular non-European club. Many Brazilian teams have well-developed YouTube channels, largely because Brazilian fans are used to watching local league and tournament matches on the platform. For example, Brazilian streamer CazéTV regularly covers matches for Palmeiras, São Paulo, Corinthians, and other local giants, drawing millions of viewers to his channel. Overall, CazéTV is one of the most popular sports streamers worldwide (and possibly the top one). He now covers not just Brazilian team matches, but also European leagues, international tournaments, and major sports events. His streams are consistently among the top-ranked in terms of viewership.
The top 10 includes teams from six different leagues, including five from the "big five" European national football leagues (England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France). However, many popular teams from other regions didn’t make the cut. For instance, in the Turkish Süper Lig, Galatasaray leads in followers on streaming platforms with 3.3 million, while in the Saudi Professional League, Al-Nassr takes the top spot with 2.6 million followers.
The most popular broadcasts on the channels of football clubs
Football giants offer a wide range of content through livestreams on their channels. Let’s take a look at some of these offerings.
Live match broadcasts are a staple, as these streams tend to attract large viewership. Almost all top football clubs include this format on their channels. However, the entire match is rarely shown in full. Instead, hosts (or even a whole studio with guests) provide a radio-style commentary on the game’s events. The actual match footage is often not shown to avoid violating broadcast rights, but useful stats are displayed, including player lineups, formations, possession percentages, shots on goal, substitutions, and more. After the game, many channels will air highlight reels showcasing the most exciting moments.
These streams are often accompanied by fan-sector footage, interviews with supporters, and expert commentary. During halftime, channels typically air ads, promoting player jerseys, other club merchandise, or offering special Premium Membership cards that provide benefits like early ticket access and discounts at the club store.
Friendly & Charity Matches
Sometimes, however, full matches are streamed on these platforms. This usually happens with training sessions, charity matches, or games involving youth or women’s teams. For example, PSG’s official channel streamed a show match between the club and Riyadh Season Team, drawing 1,373,783 viewers at its peak — fans tuning in to watch Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr, and Kylian Mbappé face off against Cristiano Ronaldo.
Another great example of this is the charity match between Barcelona and Manchester City, organized to support those affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The match was fully streamed on Barcelona's YouTube channel, drawing 170,193 viewers at its peak.
Club events. Livestreams have proven to be a great way for clubs to engage with their fans. During broadcasts, teams make important announcements, introduce new players and coaches, and celebrate key club milestones. For instance, when Real Madrid signed French striker Kylian Mbappé, the club streamed the event live on YouTube, drawing 326,836 viewers at its peak — setting a record for the Madridistas channel.
A huge audience also gathered for the livestream of José Mourinho’s arrival in Istanbul. 256,603 people tuned in to watch the legendary Portuguese coach, who took over Fenerbahçe in the summer of 2024.
Liverpool set a viewer record on their channel during the farewell stream for German coach Jürgen Klopp, marking his departure from the club. Meanwhile, Flamengo fans set a channel record when they celebrated the club’s victory in the Copa Libertadores.
Charity. Charity initiatives play a key role in building a positive image for a club and its players. This, in turn, influences sponsors, potential transfers, and even merchandise sales. Many football clubs use streaming services and live broadcasts as platforms for charity events and activities.
"Charity (or more accurately, image-building) content" also includes open training sessions with the team, fan tours of the training facility, players visiting schools or children's hospitals, merchandise giveaways, and more. The possibilities for this content are only limited by the creativity of the channel administrators.
Entertainment content. Nearly every football channel features some form of entertainment content, allowing fans to see their idols in a new light. This can range from simple interviews and talk shows to pranks and mini-games. Players often replicate trends you’d find on TikTok from other internet celebrities, like water bottle flipping tricks, reaction time challenges, creating personal rankings, reviewing football simulators, and more.
Much of the entertainment content also serves to promote the club’s sponsors. For example, a player might drive a car from a particular brand around the city while giving an interview or answering fan questions. Or they might take branded footballs and jerseys to a local school, where they host a football clinic for the kids.
During our research for this article, we compiled a comprehensive database of channels from all the top football clubs. Keep an eye on our social media, where we’ll soon be sharing rankings of the most popular channels and broadcasts from teams in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, MLS, and other leagues.
