Arsenal FC has announced a significant extension of its current partnership with BNN Technology, a Chinese content services provider, which will see unique mobile content and “money can’t buy” VIP experiences being delivered to Chinese soccer fans.
The expanded partnership will see BNN provide a wide range of Arsenal-focused content to the Xinhua News app, which is the state news agency for China. This content will include pre-match press conferences and interviews, weekly news bulletin videos and training footage, monthly bespoke coaching videos and a set number of news articles each week. Chinese fans will also be offered opportunities to win a number of prizes through this partnership, including fully paid VIP trips to watch Arsenal play at the Emirates Stadium in London, as well as competitions to win merchandise.
Arsenal FC’s Mandarin-language website has “tremendous engagement” while Chinese social media platforms have more than five million followers of Arsenal, according to team Chief Commercial Officer Vinai Venkatesham.
“I am delighted that we are expanding our relationship with Arsenal, one of Europe’s top clubs, to help BNN play a wider role in supporting China’s football ambitions while also delivering first class content to the Xinhua News app and gaining further high quality data to support our other sales channels,” BNN Technology chief executive Darren Mercer said in a statement.
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Arsenal first entered into partnership with BNN in 2015 and until now has been the club’s official lottery partner in China.
Another key part of this expanded partnership will be a new “coach the coaches” program, which will offer up to 250 Chinese grassroots soccer coaches the chance to be further trained by qualified Arsenal coaches in China. BNN will deliver this in association with its own technology partner NewNet, and it will be open to any coach already involved with a soccer team in China, regardless of their level of expertise. Applicants will be able to participate via a nomination process hosted on a microsite on the Xinhua news app. The coaches with the most votes will be selected to attend these training camps.
The commitment to assist in developing grassroots soccer across the country fits into a much wider strategy to raise the standards of the game which is primarily being led by the Chinese Football Association (FA). This is because despite many high profile signings for the domestic Chinese Super League in the past year, including making Argentine striker Carlos Tevez the most highly paid player on the planet, the country is struggling to compete internationally. Currently China lies 86th in FIFA world rankings and has only qualified for one World Cup in its history; in 2002, losing all its games in that tournament.
In response to these struggles the Chinese FA announced an ambitious strategy published last year, committing to short term targets such as creating 70,000 pitches across the country by 2020 and also longer term targets of one soccer pitch for every 10,000 people by 2030.
“Arsenal’s heritage, ethos and coaching style will be invaluable as our Chinese technology partner NewNet builds a programme that will ultimately improve coaching standards throughout China . We firmly believe that football is a powerful force for promoting social engagement, enriching day-to-day lives and in turn strengthening the base of our consumer focused operations,” Mercer said.
This deal builds upon Arsenal’s wider push into the Chinese market. In recent years the club has signed deals with state broadcaster CCTV to provide exclusive content for TV and iRENA, to roll out Arsenal soccer schools across the country.