A French Football Sensation Defying the Odds
Z United, a French football webtoon written by Daniel Fernandes, Edmond and Talia Tourriol and illustrated by Albert Carreres, has emerged as an impressive success story in the European webtoon landscape. With 680,000 views, 18,000 subscribers, and an outstanding average rating of 9.3/10, this series has captured a wide audience. But how does it compare to other European webtoons, particularly in the sports genre?
Punching Above Its Weight Against Global Competitors
With its 680,000 cumulative reads, Z United has already positioned itself among France’s notable webtoon titles. For comparison, an international heavyweight like Wind Breaker (a Korean webtoon about cycling) has accumulated about 330,000 views on the French platform with 15,658 subscribers—half the number of reads compared to Z United. Similarly, Overtime Elite (an American series about basketball) reaches 314,000 views with 15,495 subscribers. Z United surpasses these well-known titles, gathering a larger readership in France. In terms of subscribers, its 18,000 loyal readers also place Z United ahead of both Wind Breaker and Overtime Elite (both with approximately 15,000 subscribers). This « Made in Europe » webtoon manages to match or even outperform these recently translated international competitors—a strong indicator of the French-speaking audience’s interest in this local creation.
Standing Tall Against European Webtoon Giants
When broadening the comparison, some webtoons translated into French achieve much higher scores, reflecting already established global success. For example, The Boxer, a Korean webtoon about boxing, displays over 45.8 million views and 404,000 subscribers in France—extraordinary numbers that make it an undisputed champion. Similarly, a title like The Build Up (another football series) accumulates 4.8 million views with nearly 47,800 subscribers. Next to these behemoths, Z United remains more modest in total audience.
However, it’s important to note that these phenomenon series benefit from international recognition and dozens or even hundreds of episodes, whereas Z United is a newer European work targeted at the local audience. Despite this absolute value gap, Z United performs admirably. For instance, its reader satisfaction rate is excellent: a 9.3/10 average rating, which approaches the best in class. This score demonstrates a perceived quality almost at the level of The Build Up (9.45/10) or Wind Breaker (9.58/10). It even surpasses the rating of other well-established sports webtoons: Ecstasy Hearts (a webtoon about tennis) peaked at 5 million views but with a rating of only 8.78/10. In other words, Z United not only attracts readers but satisfies them as much as, if not more than, many of its competitors.
A European Champion in the Sports Category
In the field of sports webtoons, Z United ranks among the essential titles in Europe. On the French-speaking scene, apart from the exceptional case of The Boxer which crushes the competition in views, Z United rises to the forefront of sports series. It dominates international series like Wind Breaker (cycling) or Overtime Elite (basketball) in number of reads and subscribers. Compared to The Build Up, another highly followed football webtoon, Z United offers a credible local alternative: although The Build Up has collected about seven times more views in France, Z United has managed to unite a solid base of passionate readers for a story anchored in the French football universe.
Above all, Z United‘s performance is remarkable because it comes from a 100% European creation. Where many popular sports webtoons are imported from Asia or America, Z United proves that a webtoon conceived in France can reach a wide audience and compete in popularity. Its highlighting of local football, combined with quality storytelling, has allowed it to find its place in readers’ hearts.
An Exemplary Success for European Webtoons
Comparing key indicators—views, subscribers, ratings—Z United stands out as a notable success in European webtoons. With its 680,000 views and 18,000 subscribers, it surpasses several international competitors present in the French market. Its excellent rating of 9.3/10 underlines strong public approval, neck and neck with the headliners of the genre. Focusing on sports webtoons, Z United even appears as one of the standard-bearers of the genre in Europe.
It demonstrates that a local work can not only exist alongside major global successes but also compete with them on their own turf. This Bordelais football webtoon has won over its audience through its values of teamwork and engaging storyline—a winning combination that places it among the successes that European webtoon can be proud of.
Z United has carved out a choice position in Europe’s webtoon landscape. Its numbers speak for themselves, proving that a well-executed European webtoon can reach heights against renowned international titles. Z United‘s performance not only showcases its creators’ talent but also European readers’ enthusiasm for stories that resemble them. This success paves the way for other local creations and demonstrates the potential of « Made in Europe » webtoons on the international stage.