Football fans finding their feet in China

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China is shaping all sorts of areas of sport these days. Whether it’s the sheer purchasing power that the vast numbers of Chinese supporters wield, or the investments their businesses are making into sports properties across the world, their influence is being felt. 

Football, in particular, has been a focal point for the Chinese and, according to a report from Nielsen Sport – China and Football – World Sport’s Newest Superpower – interest in football has increased by more than 4% in the past three years. 

While Chinese football fandom is growing, it is the investment in football teams that’s really shifting the economic landscape of the sport. Where once brands used football as a marketing vehicle for their sponsorship activities, now it has spread to actually creating and buying assets and content – from players and teams to entire broadcast deals. 

When Vansen International Sports Company bought Dutch side, ADO Den Haag in 2014, it was the first time a Chinese company had owned all, or part, of a European professional football club. Two seasons later, that number has grown to 13, including big names such as Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and AC Milan. 

Football now accounts for three of the top five sport events in China, led by the Fifa World Cup.

On a domestic level, the Chinese Super League is rising in prominence and the clubs are spending significant amounts to lure international players. Indeed, the money spent by Chinese clubs on international transfers rose by 60.5% between 2014 and 2015, according to Fifa. The transfer fee record was broken in 2016 when Shanghai SIPG paid a reported $61 million to Russian club St Petersburg for Brazilian player Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, known as Hulk.

Glenn Lovett, global president of strategy at Nielsen Sports, says: “The world is looking to China and China – increasingly – is looking to the world. Led by strategies developed at a national government level, Chinese companies and individuals are making their mark on global sport like never before. 

“Football, as the world’s most popular and visible sport, has proved magnetic in its attraction; the list of clubs and agencies under Chinese control has grown substantially over the past two years, while at the same time the domestic Chinese Super League has risen in prominence, with fresh investment fuelling a number of eye-catching transfers from more established domestic leagues.”

But the fan base in China is quite different from that in many other countries, and Nielsen Sport research shows that Chinese fans will often support more than one team.

The consultancy’s Fan DNA research programme, which segments fans based on how and why sponsorship changes their behaviour, found that the largest category of football fans ( 32%) in China are ‘connection fans’ – people for whom the social aspects of football are what engages them. 

The growth in domestic football has been a clear aim of the Chinese government. Its General Administration of Sport set a plan to build a CNY5 trillion ($813bn) sports industry by 2025, covering everything from promoting individuals’ fitness to encouraging foreign investment in sport. 

The Chinese Football Association aims to make China a ‘world football superpower’ by 2050 by getting more people participating in the sport and increasing  training centres and pitches across the country. Its target is to get one football pitch for every 10,000 people by 2030. Grassroots initiatives have been established; Guangzhou Evergrande, for example, has partnered with Real Madrid to develop a 50-pitch training academy. 

The European football clubs appealing to the Chinese are varied but the top three in terms of fan base are: Real Madrid with 127m fans, followed by Italian clubs FC Internazionale ( 106m) and AC Milan ( 106m). 

Whether the rise in domestic teams will usurp the appeal of European clubs remains to be seen but, with technology allowing for more direct access to Chinese consumers, it seems likely the top European clubs will want to continue engaging with this huge base of fans in Asia.