Killie are Old Firm’s main rivals... for Samoan fans

WITH enough cup glories between them to outstrip any rivals, it is little wonder that the Old Firm are the most searched Scottish football teams worldwide.

But on a group of islands in the South Pacific, the Glasgow rivals share top billing with another side – Kilmarnock.

Data provider Semrush analysed Google search trends for all 42 of Scotland’s senior football clubs in more than 200 places.

Rangers was top in countries including France, India, China and the Netherlands as well as Colombia – home to striker Alfredo Morelos – and Romania, birthplace of Ianis Hagi.

Meanwhile, Celtic are favoured in the USA, South Africa, Aus

Clubs share the top spot

tralia, Brazil and Ireland, where the club has historic links.

However, in the South Pacific, Scotland’s big two clubs share the top spot with Kilmarnock. In rugby-loving Samoa, it’s the men f rom Rugby Park, Ayrshire, whose results they check. Killie are also favoured in Vanuatu.

It is perhaps understandable that Aberdeen FC is the most searched Scottish club in the Faroe Islands, 200 miles northwest of Scotland. Less obvious, however, are links to the Caribbean island of Montserrat and Gabon, Africa, where the Dons are also the most popular.

While Celtic was Scotland’s most popular team around the globe last year, averaging 801,861 searches per month compared with 725,873 for Rangers, the balance appears to be shifting. In each of the last two months in which data was available, Rangers received more global searches than any other Scottish club.