April 25 – Barcelona have continued their push to capture Chinese hearts and minds via a partnership with the WE Red Bridge communications agency who have been brought in to develop the club’s Chinese growth strategy.
Based in Shanghai, WE Red Bridge will run media relations and influencer marketing building on Barca’s initial steps into China with the Barça Experience and Barça Academy Pro in the city of Haikou.
Last year Barcelona entered into a three-year regional sponsorship deal with Chinese pharmaceutical brand Yunnan Baiyao with a focus being the opening of three Barça Academys.
Those academies were in the province of Yunnan, situated in south-west China, in the cities of Lijiang, Kunming and Fuxian Lake. The Kunming and Lijiang centres have recently opened and construction work is underway on a training centre in Yuxi Chengjiang, Fuxian Lake.
Yunnan Baiyao becomes a partner across the Asian-Pacific region for Barcelona, specifically in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Barcelona now has six academies in China and 18 throughout the Asian region. In total there are 49 Barça Academy projects around the world, more than 180 Camps and 50 Clinics. The club says it is present in 53 countries on five continents, involving more than 45,000 children.
The Academy Pro in Haikou is a club-led training centre for Chinese youth players and follows the training methods used at Barcelona’s La Masia academy and its other ‘pro’ academies around the world.
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