FC Bayern were honoured in the China Digital Football Index 'Red Card', winning gold in the 'Best Fan Event' category. Furthermore, the youth work and cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Education was awarded silver out of all the development projects, while Bayern also won bronze in the 'Best Sponsoring' category for its nationwide partnership with regional partner Industrial Bank of China (CIB).
The annual 'Red Card' study by Shanghai-based agency Mailman Group, which compares the digital activities of Europe’s top clubs in China, is one of the most significant accolades in the industry.
“This is a magnificent distinction for FC Bayern,” commented Jörg Wacker, board member responsible for internationalization and strategy. “We’ve made it our aim to make FC Bayern München come alive across the whole world. With a wide variety of events, we want to provide our international fans with regular, special experiences. These awards are the reward for our continual work to bring FC Bayern closer to our fans – particularly in China – and encourage us to proceed on this path.”
Rouven Kasper, FC Bayern managing director in China, accepted the award on behalf of the club: “We’re delighted about these awards, particularly the ‘Best Fan Event’ category. We have 136 million followers in China and our objective is to interact with them daily, online and offline. We evidently managed that well over the last year, of which we’re very proud.”
Bayern organised fan events in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Taiyuan and Beijing in 2019, with the highlights being the two award-winning ‘Watch Partys’ in Beijing and Shanghai. In April, more than 800 fans watched the 5-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in Beijing together with club legend Giovane Elber, and a similar event took place in Shanghai in October, when over 400 Bayern supporters enjoyed the match against Union Berlin together. PP Sports, the Bundesliga rights holder in China, set up a studio in the new FC Bayern office in the centre of Shanghai, with Élber as co-commentator. The two games were watched by more than two million people each and together generated almost 10 million reactions on social media platforms.