Opinion | After Xi Jinping’s visit, Manchester City have massive plans for China
With more than half their fans in Asia and 80 million in China, English giants are determined to grow in the region
A personal visit from president Xi Jinping, and bog-standard ex-player Sun Jihai inducted into England’s Football Hall of Fame: just how valuable was October 23, 2015 for Manchester City as they try to entice China’s massive market of soccer-mad consumers?
That selfie Sergio Aguero took with Xi was surely worth millions in promotional spend alone. Even if the commercialisation of football nauseates you, you have to salute City’s marketing coup.
Omar Berrada was one of the commercial geniuses behind it. He was head of sponsorship at FC Barcelona, where he helped end their 111-year-long tradition of logo-less shirts, first with a PR partnership with Unicef, then a world-record 170 million euro deal with Qatar Foundation.
He is now group commercial director of City Football Marketing, part of City Football Group (CFG), the UAE-owned organisation that owns Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City and Yokohama F Marinos.
Recently in Asia as CFG opened its first office in the region, in Singapore, the Spaniard gave me some insight into City’s ambitions in Asia and China – and by extension those of their rivals.