# @frontofficesports on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DY95C8UnEzb
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66042471-frontofficesports-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/42ad9b1518.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-30T15:00:29.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Front Office Sports (@FOS) — https://gondola.cc/FOS

## Caption

For years, Arsenal was known for choking. But now, the London club is fresh off winning its first Premier League in over 20 years, and is seeking a Champions League title too—all with a huge global fanbase that has blown up over the years.⁠
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After Arsenal won the Premier League on May 19, the official league account posted videos of thousands of Gooners celebrating in the streets of New York, Uganda, and Kenya.⁠
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Fellow Premier League sides Manchester United and Liverpool have had worldwide fan bases for decades, but Arsenal’s popularity has particularly spread like wildfire, even amid frustrations on the pitch.⁠
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“People do not become Arsenal fans because it’s easy,” New York City Mayor and Arsenal supporter Zohran Mamdani tells FOS. The team is notorious for blowing its league lead, including in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons, which added to its title drought of more than two decades.⁠
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Since NBC took over Premier League rights in 2013, U.S. viewership has skyrocketed, with Arsenal consistently drawing the biggest audiences. ⁠
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“I think Arsenal are very clever as a club,” says NBC’s Rebecca Lowe, who will host the FIFA men’s World Cup for Fox this summer, “and obviously with an American owner who’s had great success in other sports, they realize the importance of the United States.”⁠
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In the 1990s, the Premier League didn’t have many big-name African players. That began to change after Arsenal hired longtime manager Arsène Wenger in 1996, and he increasingly began signing African players. In 2002, Arsenal became the first English top-flight team to start nine Black players. Diversity is central to Arsenal’s identity, and it’s part of why the club for decades has resonated with Black fans around the world.⁠
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Mamdani agrees. Born in Uganda, he says he saw a “sense of self” in the team: “Many of us fell in love with a style of play and with an identity of the team, and for me one of those identities was Wenger bringing the world into that team.”⁠
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In two weeks, Mamdani and New York will host the World Cup. But for now, all eyes are on Budapest for the soccer season’s grand finale.⁠
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Full story in bio.⁠
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#arsenal #championsleague #gooners

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## Tags

gooners, championsleague, arsenal

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