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A plaque commemorating the Munich air disaster at Old Trafford

Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at Old Trafford in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is arguably the most popular football club in the world, with over 330 million supporters worldwide; 5% of the world's population. Average attendances at the club have been higher than any other team in English football for all but six seasons since 1964–65. The club is also one of the most successful in English football; for over thirty years, since the 1986–87 season, they have won 23 major honours, which is more than any other Premier League club. Starting from the 1986–1987 season, Manchester United have won 13 league titles, six FA Cups, five League Cups, two Champions League/European Cups, one Cup Winners' Cup, and one UEFA Cup/Europa League.

However, the two most known managers at Manchester United were two Scots; those two were Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby. Ferguson is recognized as the most successful and longest-serving manager that Manchester United had ever had, winning all bar the last one above during his 26 and a half year reign. Busby is also heralded given that he had assembled the team that was so synonymous to his legacy, the "Busby Babes". Busby was also involved in that fateful night when the Munich air disaster occurred, and with half of his squad been wiped out, he felt that he wanted to quit the manager's job through the guilt of that disaster, but continued on and a decade later, after winning two more league titles and a FA Cup, he and United won the European Cup for the first time at Wembley. Busby decided to retire the following season, remaining at the club as a director, but when Wilf McGuinness was sacked in December 1970, he stepped into the manager's seat on an interim basis until United decided on their next permanent manager, which he returned to his role as Director at the end of the 1970-71 season.

For United, they do compete against their neighbors, Manchester City in the Manchester derby, but there are other big rivalries with Leeds United (the Roses rivalry), and Liverpool, with the latter being the biggest nemesis.