Espanyol reigns in China’s schedule that the Chinese question

Seville, Villarreal, Levante and Majorca. Four consecutive days out of five possible –and the fifth is Getafe, at 16:15– Espanyol will have played them at two in the afternoon. Eight in total in 29 league games this season (plus another nine on weekdays, by the way). A schedule that was introduced by the alleged convenience of expanding competition to the Asian market and that now a group of parakeet followers born and living in China discusswith a series of arguments.

These Chinese fans They have sent a letter to LaLigato which AS has had access, in which they ask from their humble position that decrease the number of games that Espanyol plays at two in the afternoon –Spanish peninsular time–. They first point out that coincide with the time of the television newsvery popular in the country, and for much of the year also with Chinese Super League matches; and with the weekend work shiftsthey say Secondly, and aware that in Spain it is lunchtime, increased by the impossibility of being able to eat in the stadiums during the pandemic, they say they have “clearly detected great dissatisfaction among local fans, creating misunderstanding of fans in Chinathe markets and the soccer players, generating a controversy that makes no sense”, they assure.

In addition to pointing out the high temperatures at other times of the year As an added inconvenience for the games at two o’clock – for health reasons and to the detriment of the show – these fans emphasize a striking point: “We have learned that the real situation and the audience data obtained by many fans and local Spanish media are obviously different.”.

It is questioned, for example, that in its day Wu Lei’s debut with Espanyol had a television audience of 40 million viewers in China -as reported in the media-, when it is estimated that the country has around 500 million televisions and LaLiga is not a mass consumption product. A supposed error that is not attributed to the employers of Spanish football, but to local operators or to a kind of ‘lost in translation’.

Now, and although the letter does not reflect it, the most evident proof that China’s preferred time is not 2:00 p.m. is that On most days, Saturdays and Sundays, the game that is offered open is the one at 4:15 p.m.and not the one at 2:00 p.m., which is hardly offered by a pay-per-view operator.

“We know that LaLiga has an inaccurate knowledge of the Asian market, and this proposal is written with the hope of reducing the information difference”, signs this group of Chinese fans, in their attempt to reduce the matches at two in the afternoon, at least in the case of a Espanyol that chains them in these last few days. “Have the hope that LaLiga has an open mind and listens to the ideas of the Chinese fansand reduce the frequency of Espanyol matches at noon”, the letter concludes.