Perth and Western Australia will be promoted to huge international TV and online audiences, and important trade and tourism markets after the State Government signed an exclusive deal to sponsor Perth Glory in the upcoming Asian Champions League (ACL).
The competition, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)’s premier annual club tournament running from February to November 2020, has a combined live global television audience of 1.5 billion people.
The deal makes Western Australia the Perth Glory 2020 AFC Champions League Principal Partner, with ‘Perth’ branded on the front of the team’s playing strip.
The sponsorship and promotion of Perth is expected to deliver a significant investment return in tourist numbers and international education.
The Invest and Trade WA team will also use the sponsorship to promote trade and investment opportunities to key business people and corporations from the home countries of Glory’s opponents.
It will enable WA to take advantage of Perth Glory’s media partnership that delivers digital and social media exposure in 14 Asian markets. This includes a game-streaming and social media reach of about 586 million a month in China, Japan and South East Asia-Pacific countries.
The deal sees Perth Glory promote Brand Perth throughout the 2020 ACL competition and covers signage and branding, media, digital engagement and merchandise.
Glory has three home games at HBF Park in the qualification stage – on April 7 against Ulsan Hyundai, April 28 against Shanghai Shenhua and May 6 against FC Tokyo – and three away games in Shanghai, Ulsan and Tokyo.
These group stage games alone are expected to reach more than 50 million viewers.
In 2016, more than 85 per cent of the competition’s viewers were from China, Japan and South Korea – major trade and tourism markets for WA.
As stated by Premier Mark McGowan:
“Sponsoring Perth Glory in the Asian Champions League is a real coup for Brand Perth, showcasing our beautiful State to a digital reach of more than 586 million people in Asia.
“Perth Glory’s first ever appearance in the lucrative Champions League tournament comes at the perfect time for our State, while we manage the impact of novel coronavirus.
“This deal ensures we can leverage Perth Glory’s success in our key Asian markets, allowing Brand Perth to beam into the lounge rooms of tens of millions of people.
“The return on investment in tourism and international education alone will be significant, and on top of that there’s the trade and investment benefits that come out of this sort of profile.
“The sponsorship also feeds in strongly to our international education strategy ‘live, learn and launch’ which positions Western Australia and Perth in particular, as a world-class international education city, and helps the city open its doors to increasing numbers of students, especially from Asia.
“This competition will put Perth and WA on the map for a whole new Asian audience and allow us to showcase the State as a secure and attractive place to invest and visit, supporting our WA economy and leading to more local jobs.”
As stated by Asian Engagement Minister Peter Tinley:
“This feeds in perfectly to the State’s new Asian Engagement Strategy which will benefit from these big audiences to raise Western Australia’s profile in key Asian markets.
“The Asian Engagement Strategy is designed to ensure WA leverages the enormous opportunities that exist in the region, which represents 42 per cent of the world’s economy, to diversify our economy and create jobs.
“Sponsoring Perth Glory to take part in the Champions League, with its massive Asian television and digital media audiences, can help us kick a lot of the strategy’s goals.”
As stated by Perth Glory CEO Tony Pignata:
“The partnership with the State Government is a very exciting one and a natural fit for both organisations.
“We are extremely proud to be flying the flag for Perth and Western Australia in the AFC Champions League.
“More than 50 million people across Asia were exposed to the group stage of AFC Champions League last year.
“The agreement provides a fantastic opportunity to simultaneously promote the Perth Glory brand and Perth as a world-class location for tourism, international education and business.
“As a club, we are excited at the prospect of working closely with the State to raise Perth’s profile within a key market on and off the field in the coming months.”
