For you guys that are EPL fans or other European Soccer fans I wonder how you settle on choosing to root for teams like United or Barca?

I could never imagine choosing the Yankees as my team if I was not affiliated with a baseball team by birth location.

Is the goal to pick a team that you know will stay relevant? Which I guess makes sense but you miss all the joys of true fandom.

lucky for me i didnt have to 'settle' as my grandfather was a Catalonian. been a barca fan since birth

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For you guys that are EPL fans or other European Soccer fans I wonder how you settle on choosing to root for teams like United or Barca?

I could never imagine choosing the Yankees as my team if I was not affiliated with a baseball team by birth location.

Is the goal to pick a team that you know will stay relevant? Which I guess makes sense but you miss all the joys of true fandom.

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My family started following Arsenal FC back in the 70's. My mom's side of the family grew up on the same street as Liam Brady, an Irish midfielder who played there during the 70's. A lot of folks in the United States watch lots of matches and pick a team that they like to watch based on their performance, how they play, who their players are, etc. Some follow current national team players.

Define the joys of true fandom? I was born in Ireland and grew up in small town Texas. There were no professional teams near where I grew up. Am I not allowed to watch the Cowboys or the Texans. Why can I not be considered a true fan? The closest team to me was A&M and they make me more miserable than just about any sports team out there. You simply can say someone isn't a true fan because they didn't grow up inside the stadium. Hell, there are Arsenal fans here in Dallas that watch every match at the team pub and even take off work on CL match days to watch the game.

the difference is, instead of just the yankees, there's 10+ teams across europe who could lay claim to "yankees/redsox/whatever" of (insert league here). so it's not that big of a deal, and I say that as a fan of a team that has not won anything since I started following soccer(as well as the 10 years before that) and probably won't anytime soon.

pick a team or player you like and enjoy the game. life is too short to force crappy soccer on someone(I grasp the irony in this statement as a primarily MLS fan)

Was A&M the closest university to your home?

When I was playing, Thierry Henry was my favorite player and obviously he's an Arsenal legend. I chose to follow them and have stuck with them over the years

When I was a kid, Everton was one of the few teams that was frequently receptive to American players, so it stuck.

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Hell, there are Arsenal fans here in Dallas that watch every match at the team pub and even take off work on CL match days to watch the game.

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Yeah, there are a lot of American (or Asian or African...) fans who would put their European counterparts to shame. You see fans at the pub having a pint at 7AM on a Saturday morning, draped in their gear, singing songs, watching the match. That's awesome. Anyone who hates on that should be sent back to the 80s when you couldn't find that anywhere outside of a few places in the US.

I guess I was mainly referring to the evil empire type teams. Like choosing to be a Barca or Madrid fan in my opinion you were only interested in being associated with a winner but I could also see a love certain players driving allegiance.
I chose to root for spurs because they reminded me of life as an Aggie fan. Big club, big budget underachiever that occasionally jumps up and reaches its potential. I guess I need BAS in my life.

Great question - these discussions are fun.

I started supporting Barca back in '05. Though I was 15 at the time and was beginning to get into professional soccer anyway, my current best friend's family moved from Barcelona to Sugar Land where the dad got a job as a Spanish teacher. My friend and I played soccer together on multiple teams along with each of our little brothers, and our families became extremely close. My friend (now a Barca youth coach) would always talk about Barca's history, players they were aiming to buy, and the philosophy of their playing style. Around the same time, Ronaldinho joined Barca and was unequivocally the most entertaining and best player in the world at the time - he was simply just incredible to watch. All of the above is why I'm such a huge supporter.

Since then, I've had the opportunity to visit Barcelona on 4 separate occasions, attend a few league games, a Champions League game, and El Clasico.

Really interesting who I'd end up supporting had I never met Marc.

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I follow Liverpool because I loved Gerrard and pain.

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Slippppyyyyy....

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I guess I was mainly referring to the evil empire type teams. Like choosing to be a Barca or Madrid fan in my opinion you were only interested in being associated with a winner but I could also see a love certain players driving allegiance.
I chose to root for spurs because they reminded me of life as an Aggie fan. Big club, big budget underachiever that occasionally jumps up and reaches its potential. I guess I need BAS in my life.

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I don't post much but I'll touch this. I played growing up but never attached to the large clubs, nor did I follow much outside of the CL during college (and even then just to watch for fun).

I got an internship in Madrid several years ago in the same neighborhood as the Bernabeu. I had a lot of coworkers that were Real fans and the firm even took me to the restaurant at the stadium for lunch one day (non-match day). I went to about 5 games after that, pre-gamed outside at the bars, sat next to the Ultra Sur during a CL game and loved it, and hit up Cibeles after some games. Thats why I'm a RM fan.

The entire experience is a way of life. There is an identity to each club with thousands of years of history that you buy into if you follow it. It's a philosophy for the club but also a lifestyle. Most people posting here aren't t-shirt fans.

Man U and chelsea are your fair weather teams

The Irish typically follow liverpool

Pick some players and follow a squad make friends as most teams have fans that meet at bars

Just font be the FIFA video game *****

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I follow Liverpool because I loved Gerrard and pain.

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Can't put it any better than this.

Personally, I just like good soccer so I'm not a diehard fan of any team. Tottenham is probably my favorite team because I've actually been to a game at White Heart Lane. Aside from that, I more so identify with hating certain teams. Like I hate Bayern because they ruin the German league's competitiveness. I hate Barcelona except for Messi and Iniesta... Those guys are awesome. I hate ManU because they are basically the Dallas Cowboys. I like certain teams based on the year as well. I've always like Dortmund for example. Big fan of the style of play and their run to the champions league finals was awesome. I really enjoyed watching Leicester (I hope I spelled that right) last year.

Long story short, I just love watching good soccer and naturally I learn who I like... And who I don't.

When I was in junior high in the mid 90's, my best friend's club team traveled to England to play several squads there. They played a team associated with the Manchester United academy, and my friend came back talking about Giggs and the rest of the Class of '92. That was my first introduction to the Premier League, and I've followed United pretty much ever since then (at least as well as a junior high kid could back then before the internet was around).

OP, keep in mind that mostly of the posters on this board have been following European soccer for 10 years or more. Ten years ago, soccer was not nearly as ubiquitous on US TV as it is today. If you wanted to follow a team and have any chance of watching them on TV, you HAD to pick a big club. It's hardly the same as becoming a Patriots or Yankees fan. Except for Smithy, he really is just a knuckle dragging, racist, womanizer, who deals coke in his spare time.

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OP, keep in mind that mostly of the posters on this board have been following European soccer for 10 years or more. Ten years ago, soccer was not nearly as ubiquitous on US TV as it is today. If you wanted to follow a team and have any chance of watching them on TV, you HAD to pick a big club. It's hardly the same as becoming a Patriots or Yankees fan. Except for Smithy, he really is just a knuckle dragging, racist, womanizer, who deals coke AND disco biscuits in his spare time.

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FIFY

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OP, keep in mind that mostly of the posters on this board have been following European soccer for 10 years or more. Ten years ago, soccer was not nearly as ubiquitous on US TV as it is today. If you wanted to follow a team and have any chance of watching them on TV, you HAD to pick a big club. It's hardly the same as becoming a Patriots or Yankees fan. Except for Smithy, he really is just a knuckle dragging, racist, womanizer, who deals coke AND disco biscuits in his spare time.

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FIFY

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A thousand pardons, good sir.

Back in the '90s I went on a school trip to Russia. Within a few months I found myself working for some big-time Russian mob boss. He had me off a few guys and before you know it I'm pulling in some good cash. A few years later I'm helping him negotiate the purchase a football club in London. That's how I became a Chelsea fan.

Do I judge other Chelsea fans for not having as good of a story? Yes, I absolutely do! But as long as they are racist, sexist, and/or homophobic then we're all good.

You sound like such a puff.

****.

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I follow Liverpool because I love pain.

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If only I knew this when I started watching soccer.