The NFL’s two representatives in the Top 20 are the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. India’s national team makes a breakthrough for cricket in 15^th position, while baseball’s Boston Red Sox nab 18^th spot.

City will use Twitter to engage and entertain fans who tune into television broadcasts at City Square, a dedicated fan area near the club’s shop. It is also integrating real time fan Tweets on the Etihad’s video boards, on JumboTron large-screen televison, and other arena distribution channels. City is the first Premier League club to use Twitter as part of its in-game displays.

Manchester City has successfully trialled social media during games against Newcastle United and Norwich City. In a December match with the latter, the club teamed with Mass Relevance to deliver social content on screens throughout the stadium, and to create dialogue with and between fans, pundits and announcers before and after the game (hashtag #blueview). The strategy resulted in more than 1,500 #blueview Tweets in just six hours from more than 965 unique Twitter authors, providing the club with message and brand reach of nearly 400,000 Twitter users and nearly 2.5 million impressions.

“At City we have always believed that home games at the Etihad Stadium are not just exclusive to the 47,000 fans in the stands,” says Richard Ayers, digital laymaker for Manchester City. “They are an opportunity for City supporters from around the world to connect with one another and feel part of the match day experience. Mass Relevance enables us to empower our fans and add a new dimension to our pre-match build up by being able to broadcast their Tweets in real time around the stadium big screens.”

“Football fans are some of the most dedicated – and vocal – fans on the planet and real-time social content continues to play a key role in enhancing the experience whether you are at the match, watching on TV or following on your mobile device,” says Mass Relevance CEO Sam Decker.

And it’s clear Man City is really committed to social media. There’s the FanCam campaign, for one, the club’s Facebook drive for another, plus a spot of augmented reality, to name but a few.

And in Europe, 2011’s UEFA Champions League semi-final between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid reached 14.1 million Spanish viewers.

While in the UK, 6.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the Canadian Grand Prix, more than even the top-rated Grand Prix of the 2010 season.

The initiative will see 1cm² of a plot of land across different regions transformed with the sale of a participating drink and will include four categories of project:

Five-a-side football pitch development with the Pepsi brand

Playgrounds with Robinsons and Fruit Shoot

Communal parks and picnic areas developed with J2O, 7Up, Lipton, R Whites and Juicy Drench

Skateparks with Mountain Dew and Tango.

“With 70% of people agreeing that brands should do more for local communities, and with 2012 being such a unique year for large-scale events that are all about bringing communities together, we know that this is the right time to offer the nation something to get involved in,” says Jonathan Gatward, UK marketing director at Britvic.

That image is now viewable online, with Man City inviting fans to visit and to tag themselves among the 47,422-strong crowd and share on Facebook. The prize is a place alongside City players and manager Roberto Mancini in the official team photo for the upcoming 2012/13 season.

The club has also digitised footballers Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri and hidden them in the crowd. Anyone finding them gets the chance to win a signed shirt of the player and receive a personalised Facebook message.

“The chosen players have a huge global appeal across social media,” says Russell Stopford, head of digital at the club. “By harnessing the players’ international reach and creating engagement opportunities across multiple Club channels, we are able to bring our fans closer to club, regardless of where they are in the world.”

What’s it all about? Well, the sportswear brand is in cahoots with fitness programming outfit CrossFit, and the red-with-a white-delta containers are serving as mobile CrossFit gyms complete with equipment for a 15-person WOD (Workout Of The Day), to encourage people to experience ‘The Sport of Fitness’ for the first time.

“There is a shift happening today in the fitness world that is born from the idea that fitness can be a sport – with all the elements that we love about traditional sports. CrossFit is leading this shift,” said Reebok president Uli Becker. “At Reebok, we believe that fitness can be as exciting and engaging as any sport. In 2012, we are helping deliver this message to the world in a compelling, powerful way.”

The brand is supporting CrossFit’s fitness programme and the CrossFit community via a number of initiatives and activities including sponsoring The 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games, Reebok CrossFit box openings and a footwear and apparel collection.

Manchester United lead the rankings by a huge margin though, with total likes for the Old Trafford club topping 21 million, ahead of second-placed Arsenal (8.4 million) and Chelsea (8.1 million). Big spenders Manchester City prove you can’t simply buy a social media following, though, and the club is placed fifth with 1.5 million likes.

Number of Facebook likes for Premier League clubs en toto? That would 40 million and climbing.

However, English football has something to learn from across the Atlantic, says Freestyle Interactive.

“US clubs show us how sports social media should be done – with feeling,” says Freestyle Interactive. “Clubs have a huge opportunity to tap into the emotions and rituals of fans. Content on social media shouldn’t be exclusively about the score or the merch, but rather the whole match day experience – the journey to the stadium, funny superstitions, what to do in-stadium, the atmosphere, the chants, the opinions and, then, the score.

“Clubs need to be open and comfortable talking to their fans and focusing on the small things that make the game exciting. Social media users need to feel they are there.”