China digital review 2014-15: European football

European football teams continued to grow their presence online in China with several landmark events from the 2014-15 season. We took a look at some of the biggest below:

July 2014

Bundesliga Launch on Weibo, WeChat and Youku

Bundesliga became the third European league to launch on Weibo and reached over 1 million followers within 6 months.

World Cup 2014: Germany Take Home the Hardware

The Germany national team won their fourth World Cup in Brazil last year, as 100 million people in China watched the Final.

Liverpool Launch on Weishi

Liverpool FC has always been a pioneer on Chinese social media. Keeping in line with this, they were the first football club to have presence on Weishi. So far, Liverpool’s most popular Weishi video has over 330,000 views.

August 2014

PSG vs. Guingamp Play Trophée des Champions in Beijing

This is the first time that the French Super Cup came to Asia with nearly 40,000 people in attendance at the match.

September 2014

Sina Sports Release App

In partnership with 11 official football teams on Weibo, Sina Sports began their campaign to promote their Sina Sports App. Promoted by Sina Sports, the launch hashtag reached over 74.5 million reads and over 50,000 discussions.

October 2014

Arsenal Launch Tmall Store

The Gunners launched their Tmall store, giving them a presence on the biggest online B2C market in China.

January 2015

VfL Wolfsburg Sign Zhang Xizhe

Zhang’s transfer hashtag #张稀哲在德甲# was viewed over 190 million times on Weibo, whilst VfL Wolfsburg announced a new partnership with Shandong Lingling Tires. Bundesliga also sold the broadcasting rights for the second half of the season to Netease.

Chelsea Launch Official WeChat

The Blues became the 5th Premier League team on WeChat.

February 2015

Tottenham Hotspur Launch Chinese Website

Tottenham Hotspur partnered with Netease Sports to launch their Chinese website.

Liverpool Partner with PPTV

Liverpool partnered with PPTV to have their video channel on one of the most popular Chinese video platforms.

Tottenham Hotspur Launch Tmall Store

Tottenham Hotspur launched their Tmall store for Chinese fans to purchase official merchandise, becoming the second football team to launch an official store on this platform.

March 2015

Liverpool Launch Tmall Store

Liverpool became one of the top Premier League football clubs to have presence on Tmall store, the 7th most visited website in China.

April 2015

Manchester United launch WeChat account

Manchester United launched their WeChat account, along with several legends touring throughout China.

International Champions Cup China Announce Teams For 2015

In partnership with LETV, the International Champions Cup announced three fixtures in China featuring European giants Real Madrid CF, A.C. Milan, and Inter Milan.

May 2015

#ThanksStevie Campaign

Liverpool marked the retirement of Steven Gerrard by launching a WeChat app with over 76,000 users.

Bayern Munich Launch Tmall Store and Announc their China Tour

The Bavarians became the fourth team on Tmall, and announced three fixtures in China, including the Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande.