The Popularity of the Premier League in China

Football is the number one thing that comes to Chinese people’s mind when they think about the United Kingdom. As the inventor of modern football, English people take great pride in their football tradition and also their professional league. According to the survey done by Hupu Sports, the Premier League is the most followed football league in China. Nearly 64.1% of the football fans in China followed the English Premier League. And also according to this survey, the most popular European football clubs among Chinese fans are all Premier League clubs. They are Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool respectively.

The main reason of why the Chinese football fans love the Premier League so much is the competitiveness of the league itself. Unlike its counterparts such as the Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A and also the German Bundesliga, the title race of the Premier League is more exciting and unpredictable. The success of Leicester City in 2016 as an underdog to win the Premier League inspired the hears of many Chinese fans. They believed that this will never be possible in other countries’ professional leagues. As the football world becomes more commercialised and money-driven, the Premier League remains an arena where small teams have the opportunity and capability to shock big teams. The second reason to explain the popularity of the Premier League in China is the close connection between the Premier League and the rich cultural tradition of England. This cultural tradition includes pub culture, fans culture and also local English rivalries e.g the North London Derby, Liverpool vs Manchester United and the Merseyside Derby. Chinese fans respect the fact that people from certain parts of England will always be supporting their local teams rather than the big clubs. Their teams might never have the opportunity to win any major trophies and yet they support their teams with full passion and love.

The economic benefits generated from the popularity of the Premier League in China are huge. These benefits include TV broadcasting rights, sales of jerseys and other commercial products, and also ticket sales during the summer games in China. Many Premier League teams now choose China as an important destination for their summer commercial games. This is mainly because of their own popularity among the Chinese fans and also the potential business opportunities in the sports sector of China. China has now placed the development of football as an important agenda in its 14th Five Years Plan. The government has placed great emphasis on the development of youth football and youth training. Many Premier League clubs could work with their Chinese counterparts on building successful youth football training centre under this great initiative. China has some of the best football fans and markets in the world, however the performance of the Chinese Men’s Football Team has always been disappointing. And therefore the people and the political leadership are all eager to change and improve this situation by working together with countries that have great football culture. The United Kingdom could certainly utilise on this opportunity to deepen its relationship with China by promoting the exchanges and friendships between each other’s football clubs. The Chinese Super League could also increase its cooperation with the Premier League on deepen its understanding on the organisation and also administration of a professional football league. Overall there are so many things that the Chinese football community could learn from the English football community on making the sport of football more popular in China.

In September 2019, Premier League and Chinese e-sports giant Tencent Sports have reached the agreement on the broadcasting rights of the Premier League in China. From Saturday 19 September, supporters in China will be able to watch all 372 remaining Premier League matches live and follow news and updates about the Premier League on Tencent’s digital media platforms, including WeChat, QQ.com, Tencent Video, Tencent News App and Tencent Sports App. This was a huge business deal for both Tencent and the Premier League. Given the fact that the Premier League is the most popular football league in China, whoever has the right to air the Premier League will definitely receive a huge revenue from the fans. The revenue might be coming from advertisements during half time of the match and also membership payments in order to access the games. The Premier League also gains a lot of benefits through collaborating with Tencent. Tencent itself is one of the most successful technological companies in China and is considered to be one of the five most innovative companies in China according to BCG. The Premier League could utilise on the technological platforms by Tencent to further increase the popularity of the EPL in China. It is also more easier for the Chinese fans to share news about the EPL when the Premier League is working with Tencent because the company owns the most popular social media platform in China, WeChat. This is truly a win win strategy and cooperation.