Asnawi's Big Role Boosts Popularity Of Ansan Greeners And K-League 2 In Cyberspace

Indonesian defender Ansan Greeners Asnawi Mangkualam (Instagram @asnawi_bhr)

JAKARTA - Ansan Greeners club player Asnawi Mangkualam Bahar responded positively to his massive publicity by South Korean social media, especially his club and the K-League.

"I am happy because in addition to being able to raise the name of the club, it can make Indonesian players increasingly known in South Korea," said Asnawi, quoted by Antara from an interview with PSSI via Instagram in Jakarta, Tuesday, May 11.

Through the publication, according to the 21-year-old defender, the international football community can see Indonesia actually has a lot of superior potential. So far this fact seems closed because of the lack of publication.

"In the future, I hope more friends from Indonesia can make a career abroad," said Asnawi.

Asnawi's arrival to South Korean League 2, K-League 2, did have a significant direct impact on the increasing popularity of Ansan Greeners (Asnawi club) and K-League on social media.

That's what makes both Ansan and K-League seem to feature Asnawi in his uploads.

On social media Instagram, for example, Ansan Greeners' account @ansan_greeners_fc garnered a surge of followers once Asnawi joined.

Based on socialblade.com statistics, Ansan Greeners' instagram followers immediately increased by 5,819 in just one month, February-March 2021. Asnawi only joined Ansan Greeners in February 2021.

Asnawi's arrival makes Ansan Greeners, who only has 22,754 followers in February 2021, until this Tuesday, already has about 61,700 followers.

Similarly, Ansan Greeners FC's YouTube channel, of all its uploads, still has the most-watched videos featuring Asnawi.

An increase in subscribers also occurred on the Youtube channel. In mid-April 2021, Ansan Greeners FC's subscribers increased by 1,200. That makes, as of Tuesday, Ansan Greeners has 4,680 subscribers on YouTube.

In addition to Ansan Greeners, K-League social media was also flooded with popularity when Asnawi came to South Korea. Of the top 10 most popular videos on K League's Youtube channel of all time, three of them concern Asnawi Mangkualam Bahar.

One video could even suck up more than 1.7 million views within two weeks. The other two videos were 1.1 million and 928 thousand, less than a month.

K League's Youtube subscribers continue to rise. From 102,000 subscribers in early January 2021, now or until last Monday, their subscribers were 153,000 people.

In order to attract Indonesian netizens, K League inserted Indonesian in their uploaded video about Asnawi.

They also managed to match Asnawi with Park Ji-sung, one of the best Asian midfielders from South Korea who became a legend of the famous English club Manchester United.

Asnawi admitted to receiving a sentence that juxtaposed him with park.

"In terms of the quality of the game, I am still very far from Park. But perhaps, we are similar in terms of popularity. Park Ji-sung made a lot of South Korean spectators follow the Premier League, like I made the Indonesian people see K-League 2 because they play in South Korea," said the player from Makassar.