Digital sports agency Mailman has unveiled its rankings for the most popular European soccer clubs, leagues and players online in China, with Barcelona, the Premier League and Cristiano Ronaldo coming top in their respective categories, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.

The Red Card 2021: China Digital Performance Index ranked Spanish giants Barcelona as number one for the second consecutive year, citing them as the most followed soccer club and having the highest engagement on the Douyin social media platform. Barca are also the most followed Spanish soccer club on Weibo and have the second highest total Weibo engagement for all European soccer teams.

In second place were Barca's rivals Real Madrid, with Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Liverpool completing the top five.

English soccer's top-flight Premier League beat off competition from nearest challenger La Liga thanks to placing first in every single category of the Red Card's performance metrics, which include followers, engagement and reads online.

Germany's Bundesliga, France's Ligue 1 and Italy's Serie A completed the top five.

On the player front, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has seen his online presence in China go from strength to strength. On Kuaishou, the Juventus forward's following grew to 7.7 million within the first month of launching on the video-sharing app, for which he is also an official ambassador. The launch helped double his total China social following.

Ronaldo, who tops the Red Card rankings for the third year in a row, is also the most followed and engaged player on Weibo with 7.4 million followers. Additionally, the 35-year-old has five times higher engagement on the platform than Brazil's Neymar Jr, the second most engaged player in the standings. Lionel Messi was third on the list.