Premier League teams jet to Asia to build 'brands'
Source: AFP |
July 18, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A GLUT of Premier League teams including Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United are touring Asia hoping to cash in on the region's unquenchable thirst for English football.
QPR and Sunderland are also heading East, meaning a quarter of the Premier League will build up to the new season by jetting off to countries on the other side of the globe and in searing heat.
The clubs will not admit it, but the trips to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea are less about football and more about the "brand", in a part of the world where disposable income is rising fast.
It is all a far cry from the preseasons of yesteryear, when teams would warmup for a new campaign by spending a few days at an English seaside resort.
United, dethroned by rival City as Premier League champion last season, has set the benchmark in attracting foreign fans and claims to have 325 million supporters in Asia, with officially endorsed fan clubs across the continent.
Alex Ferguson's men play against Didier Drogba's Shanghai Shenhua on July 25 at the Shanghai Stadium as part of a gruelling schedule that will take them to South Africa, China, Norway, Sweden and Germany.
City also takes on Arsenal in Beijing three days earlier. The Londoners are similarly heading to football-mad Malaysia, and also taking in Hong Kong.
Julian Kam, chief executive of ProEvents, organizer of the Manchester City and Arsenal visits to Malaysia, said that while teams benefited from an immediate financial spin-off, they were mainly looking to build a long-term fan base in Asia and the region.
QPR and Sunderland are also heading East, meaning a quarter of the Premier League will build up to the new season by jetting off to countries on the other side of the globe and in searing heat.
The clubs will not admit it, but the trips to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea are less about football and more about the "brand", in a part of the world where disposable income is rising fast.
It is all a far cry from the preseasons of yesteryear, when teams would warmup for a new campaign by spending a few days at an English seaside resort.
United, dethroned by rival City as Premier League champion last season, has set the benchmark in attracting foreign fans and claims to have 325 million supporters in Asia, with officially endorsed fan clubs across the continent.
Alex Ferguson's men play against Didier Drogba's Shanghai Shenhua on July 25 at the Shanghai Stadium as part of a gruelling schedule that will take them to South Africa, China, Norway, Sweden and Germany.
City also takes on Arsenal in Beijing three days earlier. The Londoners are similarly heading to football-mad Malaysia, and also taking in Hong Kong.
Julian Kam, chief executive of ProEvents, organizer of the Manchester City and Arsenal visits to Malaysia, said that while teams benefited from an immediate financial spin-off, they were mainly looking to build a long-term fan base in Asia and the region.
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