French glamour club PSG turns to China for fans... and funds

Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar and teammate Kylian Mbappe celebrate after a French Cup goal scored against Rennes in January AFP/LOIC VENANCE

It's the market "with the biggest growth potential," according to a PSG official discussing the club's two-week summer trip to Singapore and China.

PSG's Asian fan base has grown while its social media presence has exploded along with the French club's rising profile following the signings of world football's most expensive player Neymar and French teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe.

Riding the wave of rising popularity, the French club with the Eiffel Tower logo took advantage of the Asian tour to open a permanent office in Singapore.

"With the growth the club has enjoyed in recent years, along with the arrival of our two superstars Neymar and Mbappe, we thought that now was a good time to do it, it was the right moment," said Sébastien Wasels, the club's Asia Pacific director.

He said the Qatari-owned club with ambitions to dominate Europe needs the base to handle rising Asian growth opportunities.

And the club that could face sanctions by European football's governing body UEFA for allegedly violating regulations over spending limits needs to significantly boost its income.

PSG says that it has signed several commercial deals in the region including a multi-million euro partnership with marketing agency Desports for sponsorship and licensing rights in China and Hong Kong.

YOUNGER GENERATION

The club has also pinpointed three geographical growth areas in Asia and plans to hire a team of five expert locals to focus on business development opportunities in China, South Korea/Japan, and Southeast Asia/Oceania.

During the club's brief summer Asia stay that included matches in Singapore and the French Super Cup final against Monaco in Shenzhen, PSG hosted a range of promotional events.

The included a cooking class by the club's Brazilian defender Marquinhos and a training session for young players at China's "PSG Academy" by former star player Maxwell, now part of the PSG management team.

PSG's eSports section was also brought into play to woo the younger generation, hosting a FIFA video tournament for 400,000 participants on local platforms to boost the club's active gaming sector.

PSG's social media footprint in Asia is rapidly expanding, says the club.

"When QSI (Qatar Sports Investments, the club's owners since 2011) took over, we had a million social media followers globally: 90 per cent in France

"Today we have 60 million ... 90 per cent outside France. No other sports entity has had that scale of digital growth."