City swells its China ranks

Champion of England again and a possible European coronation to come, not many people would disagree that Manchester City is currently the best club team in world soccer.

Now the Sky Blues are making their success on the pitch count in the Chinese market, where years of efforts to expand the club's fan base are finally paying off.

The deafening roars at a title party on Sunday in Shenzhen－where 18 official supporter groups gathered to see Pep Guardiola's swashbuckling side thrash Everton 5-0－provided audible proof of the inroads made by City in China.

"Football is passion in China, which has amazing football fans. If you are in the business of football around the world, you have to be in China," Scott Munn, CEO of City Football Group (CFG) China, told China Daily in an exclusive interview at the event.

"Most importantly, we interact with our supporter groups, so we have 18 official supporter groups across all of China. We have many VIPs and fans coming from all over China. So it's a great way to celebrate lifting the trophy.

"Every way that we interact is with the fans in mind. We want to make them more connected. We want to make sure that they understand what the club is about."

CFG is Manchester City's Abu Dhabi-owned parent company, and lists an additional nine clubs in its portfolio, including Major League Soccer's New York City and Sichuan Jiuniu, from China's second tier.

For the past two months, a series of fan events have been held in four major Chinese cities, with City supporters coming out in force to cheer on Guardiola's men during their title charge, not to mention a League Cup triumph and run to the club's first ever Champions League final.

"Our fans are at the heart of our football clubs. We've been actively engaging with Chinese fans and bringing them closer to the club. We do a lot of local interactions face to face" said Munn.

"The team has been here twice in the last five years. We have played many games in many different cities. But also we don't just focus on one city. So Shenzhen today, next week we are in Guangzhou. Two weeks ago, we were in Shanghai, in Chengdu before that. We did an amazing project this year."

According to Nielsen sports data, City's Chinese fan base numbered 60 million by the end of last year, with more than half of those supporters aged under 30.

"We have a young fan base who want to consume a lot of content through many different channels," said Munn.

Pre-match online show Manchester City Talking About Football, which is produced in cooperation with China's Premier League broadcaster Tencent Sports, is one of the "innovative and interactive" ways the club is endeavoring to engage with fans.

In addition, the seven-time English champion has bolstered its social media presence on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, Douyin and Youku.

"We want the fan base to grow every year in China, but we want it to grow in a real way," said Munn.

"In the last two years we have seen huge growth in our social media accounts. Some disappear, some new ones come. We are incredibly lucky.

"We have a permanently based marketing team in Shanghai who are Chinese and understand the market, and they are constantly developing and working with new partners."

City's followers on Weibo total over 9.14 million. The club's official Douyin account features exclusive videos, match highlights and official documentaries, attracting more than 970,000 subscribers.

This year, City launched official Alipay and WeChat "mini programs", providing one-stop engagement experiences for fans through what it describes as "the syndication of targeted local content, retail offerings and Chinese membership activations".

"Our business is growing. We are hiring local expertise in China," added Munn.

Fueled by the club's latest English top-flight title and this month's Champions League final showdown with Chelsea, City supporter groups are witnessing a spike in new members.

The club is organizing an official viewing party in Guangzhou for the May 30 final, with similar events taking place all over China.

"If we can beat Chelsea in the final, it will definitely give us another step forward to engage with the fans in China," said Munn.

City has long had a strong connection with China after signing Sun Jihai from Dalian Shide in 2002.Sun was a trailblazer for Chinese players in England and became a firm fan favorite with City fans during his six years at the club.

"As Chinese football is focusing and investing more on youth development, we expect to see another Chinese player playing for City again in the future," said Munn.

Making full use of its strong global network of clubs, CFG says it welcomes all kinds of "football communication" with China.

Since 2016, CFG has cooperated with the Ministry of Education to launch a campus soccer project, which has benefited students in 11 provinces.

In February 2019, CFG purchased Chengdu-based Sichuan Jiuniu. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, two Jiuniu players were selected to train at Australian club Melbourne City, also owned by CFG, to experience Manchester City's coaching philosophy and methodology.

"We want to work with Chinese people to promote Chinese football. It may take time. But we believe Chinese football will grow and be successful, and we want to be a part of it," said Munn.

"And it actually is a broad piece of engagement that we would do around getting young people to play football or just be healthy and active. It's not necessarily about representing your country or winning medals.

"It's actually more about getting young boys, young girls to be fit, healthy and active, to enjoy outdoor activity. I think there is no question that Chinese professional football for women is growing incredibly well. And for us we look forward to the Olympics coming up. China is playing in the women's game and we know some of the best players in the world are actually in Team China's squad. So it's an exciting time."