New Brand Finance data reveals Chinese football clubs currently have a 33% following, down from 37% in 2024
BEIJING, 21 August 2025 – While interest in domestic football in China has declined to 33% in 2025, many national level clubs continue to demonstrate strong brand resilience, according to the Football 50 2025 report by Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy.
Legacy teams like Shanghai Shenhua and Beijing Guoan remain anchored by loyal fans and cultural heritage, while rising clubs such as Chengdu Rongcheng are building momentum through modern branding and local engagement.
This year’s market research findings by Brand Finance show that clubs with either deep-rooted identity or innovative fan engagement are best positioned to thrive. Emotional connection, community relevance, and dynamic matchday experiences continue to be key drivers of brand strength in the evolving Chinese football landscape.
Taking the title as China’s strongest football club ranked this year is Shandong Taishan, earning a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 57.6/100 and an A brand strength rating. After placing fifth in the domestic league last year, the club continues to demonstrate consistency, regularly appearing in the AFC Champions League and reaching the quarter-finals in the 2023/24 season. Shandong also performs strongly in away matches, reflecting its enduring strength on the national stage.
In second place is Beijing Guoan, with a BSI score of 56.3/100, and an A brand strength rating. The club has shown consistent performance over the past three seasons, finishing sixth in 2023, fourth in 2024 and is currently second in the 2025 Chinese Super League. Their on-pitch stability has translated into brand strength, and they have also secured qualification for the AFC Champions League 2 in the 2025/26 season.
Rounding off the top three is Shanghai Shenhua, posting a BSI score of 54.7/100, and an A brand strength rating. As one of the founding clubs of Chinese football, Shenhua is closely tied to Shanghai’s identity, with its loyal 'Blue Blood' fans driving strong perceptions of heritage (27%) and passion (30%), according to Brand Finance’s market research data. The club currently tops the 2025 league and recently reached the 2023/24 AFC Cup quarter-finals, reflecting growing consistency on and off the pitch.
Scott Chen, Managing Director, Brand Finance China, commented:
"Chinese football is evolving from a numbers game to a narrative game. The clubs strengthening their brands are not simply winning matches; they are building meaning. Whether through heritage, consistent performance or local engagement, the strongest clubs are those turning cultural relevance into lasting brand value."
Other notable Chinese football clubs in the rankings are:
Global Insights
Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two most valuable football clubs in the world. Real Madrid’s brand value rose 14% to EUR1.9 billion, while Barcelona’s increased by 11% to EUR1.7 billion.
The Premier League is the world’s most valuable sports league in terms of brand value with its top 10 brand values totalling EUR8.2 billion.
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance, compliant with ISO 20671.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Brand Finance evaluates brand strength in a process compliant with ISO 20671, looking at Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. The data used is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary market research programme and from publicly available sources.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+ in a format similar to a credit rating.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668. It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.
The steps in this process are as follows:
1 Calculate brand strength using a balanced scorecard of metrics assessing Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and Business Performance. Brand strength is expressed as a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score on a scale of 0 to 100.
2 Determine royalty range for each industry, reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions. In luxury, the maximum percentage is high, while in extractive industry, where goods are often commoditised, it is lower. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database.
3 Calculate royalty rate. The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4 Determine brand-specific revenues by estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a brand.
5 Determine forecast revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
6 Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
7 Discount post-tax brand revenues to a net present value which equals the brand value.
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
