The Global Football Fan Report – a survey conducted by Fan Token creators Chiliz – has revealed that 83.3% of fans globally feel their teams could be doing more to engage them.
The far reaching survey was conducted across the UK, USA, Brazil, South Korea, Nigeria, Japan, Italy, and Turkey, and involved 8, 000 participants.
The need for greater engagement was something that united fans across the globe, with fans from every region calling for more direct engagement with their clubs.
What does this mean for Fan Tokens?
Fan Tokens have been helping fans connect with their teams and access exclusive benefits on Chiliz fan engagement and rewards platform Socios.com since 2019.
Over 2M wallets reveals adoption levels are healthy, but the findings of the report suggest the digital asset class still has room for significant growth, because it clearly reveals that fan demand for greater engagement is rising.
Moreover, the type of engagement that fans are looking for is closely aligned with the type of opportunities that are already available through Fan Tokens and Socios.com.
Virtual meet-and-greet sessions with players (22%), fan voting on certain club decisions such as kit design (22%) and virtual training ground access (19%) were high on the list of fan demands – and these kinds of opportunities and experiences are already available to Fan Token holders on Socios.com.
Overall, the report makes positive reading for Paris Saint Germain, FC Barcelona, Juventus, Atlético de Madrid, Man City and the 70+ teams that have launched Fan Tokens and made them available on Socios.com.
What else did the report find?
The report dove deep into the true nature of global football fandom, providing eye opening insight into how much fans value their relationships with overseas teams and suggesting the need for clubs to better nurture and reward the passion of their foreign fans.
Real Madrid and Barca are the top two clubs for overseas fans
The La Liga giants are the most appealing clubs overall for overseas fans, with Madrid topping the list ahead of their Catalan rivals. Meanwhile, Manchester United are the top Premier League team for fans from other countries.
But! English clubs lead the way.
Real and Barca may have taken the top two spots overall, but Premier League clubs dominated the top 10, taking six spots.
Manchester United remain a global powerhouse, despite not winning the league since 2013 and are followed by Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Liverpool in the top 8. In total 32% of fans said their non-domestic team plays in England, and the Premier League is the most popular league for fans from the US, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea and Italy.
Bayern Munich (ninth) and PSG (tenth) round out the top ten.
Player power
Tottenham’s following in South Korea – motivated by Son Heung-Min’s popularity in his native country – gives the north London club by far the largest following for a team in a particular country, with 42% of Koreans opting for Spurs as their overseas team.
Meanwhile, Japan’s passion for Kaoru Mitoma saw 4% of correspondents choose Brighton as their favourite team, a factor which helped the team sneak into the global top 20 in 19th place.
Most fans follow an overseas team
The Global Fan Football Report reveals that the passion for overseas teams runs deeper than expected with 86.6% of participants having an interest in a non domestic team, and 33% having a foreign club as their main team.
The full Global Football Fan Report can be seen here.
