Ronaldo 1 Beckham 0

Real Madrid and Ronaldo are beating Manchester United and David Beckham in the popularity stakes in the Far East, according to new research.

A survey by a sports pollsters SPORT+MARKT reveals that although Beckham is the favourite footballer in Japan, he lags behind his new team-mate Ronaldo in Korea and China.

Real Madrid were the most popular club in the three countries according to the poll of 3,000 people, and AC Milan’s success in the Champions League saw the Italian side named as Chinese fans’ favourites and pushed Manchester United into third place overall.

In Japan, not only did United come behind Real and AC Milan, but also behind Serie A club Parma, whose popularity can be attributed to having Japanese national team captain Hidetoshi Nakata in their ranks.

Oliver Butler, account manager at SPORT+MARKT, said: “The Far East has been identified as one of the main areas for commercial exploitation by the football industry with clubs, leagues and sponsors all fighting to gain a foothold.

“This research will dispel a few myths about the popularity of certain competitions, clubs and players in these markets. Nobody has yet to make serious inroads in converting these markets into a regular source of revenue.”

Beckham’s promotional tour of Japan does appear to have paid dividends though. Not only did he outscore Ronaldo, who played a significant role in Brazil’s 2002 World Cup win on Japanese soil, but was the most popular foreign sportsman in Japan ahead of golfer Tiger Woods.

The Asia Football Study also found that Serie A is more popular in these markets than the Barclaycard Premiership with close to 40% of respondents choosing it as their favourite.

The Premiership was the most popular league in China but it lagged behind Serie A in Korea and especially Japan.