Football game is capturing people's attention around the world, especially for football fans who are following and supporting their favorite teams year by year. How do football fans in Asia perceive world's top football leagues? And how do they rank domestic and foreign football teams? To delve into Asian football fans, YouGov surveyed residents from across Asia-Pacific region about their perception of various football matters.
According to the survey, top 5 football leagues that Asians follow most are Barclays English Premier League (51%), domestic league (40%), UEFA Champion League (29%), La Liga Spain (28%), and Germany Bundesliga (22%).Among all the Asian countries, Hong Kong and Singapore fans tend to follow foreign football leagues rather than domestic ones. In Singapore, Barclays English Premier League wins the largest percentage of Singaporean football fans (67%) while Singapore’s local S-League has only 24% of followers, which is lower than average(39%).Compared with Singaporeans, Hong Kong fans have voracious appetite for a wider range of foreign leagues, such as Barclays English Premier League (55%) and La Liga Spain (42%).
Not surprisingly,top 3 most followed football teams in APAC are also from foreign countries.
Top 3 most followed football teams In APAC:
- Manchester United (15%)
- Liverpool (7%)
- Arsenal, Barcelona (6%)
In terms of upcoming World Cup, a majority of respondents (21%) think Russia should be replaced as the host country for World Cup 2018, and 25% think Qatar should be replaced as the host country for World Cup 2022. Considering football games in general, most Asian football fans (58%) agree there should be more use of technology in refereeing, only a quarter (25%) of football fans regard the current punishment for diving players not sufficient and 23% of respondents think FIFA is bringing bad influence to football games.
In spite of these complaints, it seems that some brands have already successfully reached more fans and potential customers thanks to their close relation with football.
Top 5 brands that Asian fans perceive to be most associated with football :
- Nike (53%)
- Adidas (52%)
- Coca Cola (35%)
- Puma (29%)
- Emirates (29%)
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