Liverpool Is Most Popular European Football Club On China's Weibo

China’s leading social media platform Weibo "has seen an 18% growth in sports teams, leagues and players using the site" -- there are now 1,200 official sports organizations on the platform, according to Paul Nicholson of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. The most popular football team on Weibo is 2015 Asian Champions League winner Guangzhou Evergrande "which heads its European rivals," led by Liverpool. It "is followed by Bayern Munich and then big spending" Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan. Next come ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal. Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid, "giants of social media on twitter and Facebook, have not made the same inroads into China as yet." While football clubs have a lead when it comes to teams, when it comes to leagues, the NBA "is the dominant force on Weibo," followed by the Chinese Super league, the English Premier League and the Chinese University Basketball League (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 5/2).