Negotiating Belonging: Examining Chinese Women Vloggers of the English Premier League

Women fans of men’s football have long navigated and contested its predominantly masculine culture. This study examines UK-based Chinese women fans of the English Premier League (EPL) who produce matchday vlogs on the Chinese video platform Bilibili. It argues that they occupy a distinctive position within transnational football fandom, negotiating belonging both in English stadiums, where intersecting hierarchies of gender, race, and nationality shape their participation, and in Chinese digital football communities, where their legitimacy as authentic fans is frequently questioned. Drawing on the concept of epistemic injustice, the findings suggest that these vloggers respond to various challenges by strategically performing authenticity, serving as cultural intermediaries, and cultivating digital safe spaces through their vlogging channels. The study further argues that belonging is not simply a status to be achieved but an ongoing, relational process through which women fans seek recognition, establish meaningful connections, and challenge the epistemic inequalities embedded in transnational fandom.