July 21 – As Manchester City prepare for the new season in Australia, including a first time-ever match against sister club Melbourne City FC, owner City Football Group (CFG) is starting to show the benefits of the sponsorship leverage a larger group of clubs can provide.
The CFG teams aren’t the biggest football names in Melbourne this week. Two of Europe’s other club giants are in Australia. Spain’s Real Madrid and Italy’s Roma make up a trio of sides playing in the pre-season International Champions Cup.
50,000 were expected to turn out Wednesday to watch Man City play Roma, but the main attraction will be Saturday’s match against Real where 90,000 will pack into a sold out Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Real Madrid have already made their mark in town when 10,000 fans paid A$15 a head to watch them train.
Having the teams in town was also beneficial for CFG who took the opportunity to announce a global marketing deal with FAL Food & Beverages brand Coco Joy, a deal that will also bring in their MLS club New York City FC.
Coco Joy were already a partner of Melbourne City before expanding the deal to the Manchester and New York clubs. The sale was made by CFG’s central commercial team at its service company City Football Marketing.
Coco Joy has been a sponsor of Man City’s tour with branding on the team’s shirtsleeves.
Omar Berrada, Commercial Director of City Football Marketing, said: “We have had an excellent relationship with Coco Joy in Melbourne and it is a fantastic success story for that partnership that we are now going to be working together at Manchester City and New York City FC as well.”
Tim Xenos, CEO of FAL said: “FAL is a global company with a vision of creating healthy and innovative food and beverage products. We develop brands which encompass and provide consumers with a real choice.
“Coco Joy is a coconut brand dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle to consumers globally and we see our partnership with the three clubs as a fantastic platform to work together to help collectively promote a healthy lifestyle whilst they can experience the quality, choice and enjoyment in what Coco Joy has to offer.”
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