Manchester City treats Chinese fans to trophy celebrations

When one of the most coveted trophies in world soccer comes to town, only the very best will do.

To celebrate its 2021/22 English Premier League title, Manchester City took the trophy on tour in China last week, visiting some of the nation's most iconic landmarks, including the Great Wall near Beijing and Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai.

City Football Group China CEO Scott Munn revealed the VIP treatment, which is required under Premier League rules, even extended to allocating the trophy its own first-class seat on a high-speed train.

"This is the original not a replica, so it travels with two full-time security guards. It's never allowed to be out of their presence. It had its own seat on the plane, and in China it travels on the train," Munn told China Daily.

"It's fantastic for the club to be back for the first time since 2019," he added. "It's a chance to reengage with our fan base here after three years.

"For us, the timing was perfect. China is one of the key markets for Man City. We're delighted that everything opened up in February and we were able to plan it."

As well as catching a glimpse of the silverware, fans also had the chance to win prizes "that money can't buy", such as signed shirts, Munn explained.

Last week's festivities were part of a global tour to celebrate City's dramatic title triumph.

In a nail-biting final-day finish last May, Pep Guardiola's men found themselves 2-0 down to Aston Villa with just 15 minutes left on the clock to leave Liverpool on the brink of glory. However, in scenes reminiscent of Sergio Aguero's last-gasp heroics in 2012, City summoned all its class and resilience to win 3-2 and claim its fourth title in five years.

With pandemic restrictions relaxed, City wasted no time in organizing the Chinese leg of the trophy tour, taking club legend Paul Dickov along on ambassadorial duties and placing a special emphasis on grassroots engagement.

"The trophy is a real sort of surprise and delight for everybody, whether it's a visit to a school or a college, or like this morning when we did an activity with the Special Olympics," Munn said. "It's just amazing to see young boys and girls with smiles on their faces, or kicking a ball with Paul with the trophy there. It's pretty amazing."

City prides itself on going the extra mile for the Chinese market, with analytics company Nielsen totaling the club's match-watching, merchandise-buying fan base at around 46 million.

"We have 21 official supporter groups across China, so we had the Beijing group visit us on the weekend. And then we had the Shanghai group coming to a live screening of the match against Liverpool on Saturday. So that's certainly something that you love to see, when you get to see the fans in person," Munn said.

"And then there were other traditional activities, like we did a Chinese paper-cutting experience. So just being able to immerse yourself in some of those traditional Chinese activities, but also have the people that are involved with this there is great and have the trophy up close and Paul there as well."

Innovative approach

With all of Europe's elite soccer clubs vying for China's attention, City is keen to stand out from the crowd, especially on social media where it has 10 million followers across multiple channels. That portfolio will soon also include the Red platform.

"I think one of the things that we've done completely differently to everyone else is when we first established our office here (in Shanghai), we created our own digital content team, so all the content we made is done here locally," said Munn.

"We have a full-time Chinese staff member in Manchester, but all that content is bespoke for the market. And for us, we think that's a real point of difference.

"So this is not just taking some footage from the UK and putting subtitles on it. This is actually having our staff tailor it — whether it's an interview from Manchester in Mandarin, or whether it's actually producing it here and then putting it out in Mandarin — it's a real advantage."

That attention to detail extends to City's merchandise operation, with the club's recent limited-edition Chinese New Year shirt, produced by Puma, selling out globally.

"We've learned that there really is an opportunity for us to develop niche products. And already we're starting to plan next year for the Year of the Dragon with some pretty unique items. It's not just shirt sales, but across all of our business," said Munn, who added that the club is also working on plans for its star-studded team to return to China.

"The team has been here twice in the last eight years. This is our third trophy tour and hopefully soon we'll have the team back and playing football here again," he said.

The Haaland factor

Boosting City's popularity in China this season has been the addition of superstar striker Erling Haaland, who has already netted 42 goals across all competitions this term.

Munn reckons Haaland fits perfectly with City's reputation for innovation and excellence — and that's something that Chinese fans identify strongly with.

"Chinese fans absolutely love winners. And for sure, we've been one of the most successful Premier League teams of the last 10 years, and that has correlated to a significant spike in interest in China and probably disproportionately to the rest of the world," he said.

"Secondly, Chinese fans love a superstar. The one thing that Erling Haaland brings is absolute superstar quality. So we see that both in shirt sales and in the printing of his name and number on the back of shirts, but also in the engagement."

With Haaland helping to spearhead City's hunt for Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League honors, fans can surely expect more trophy tours to be on the way.

And Munn believes securing an elusive European title could be a real game-changer for the club's ambitions in China.

"There's no question that a Champions League result would be phenomenal in this market. And we've seen historically the impact it can have, but we are also realistic. It's an incredibly difficult competition, and we'll give it everything we can," he said. "And certainly we'll be ready, if we do have success, to maximize that on and off the pitch here in China. That will be a clear focus."