Madrid aim for Far East domination
The dust has barely settled after David Beckham’s presentation as a Real Madrid player yet his new club have already taken their first steps towards conquering the lucrative Asian market.
Less than 72 hours after Beckham held aloft his number 23 shirt for the soccer world to see, Madrid’s head of marketing, Jose Angel Sanchez, announced a deal with Asia Sports Development to promote club products in the Far East.
“This is an agreement of unprecedented dimensions in the development of marketing in the world,” said Sanchez, with Madrid hoping to exploit Beckham’s arrival to topple Manchester United’s dominance in the region.
“We are looking to bring the passion and the spirit of the club to a new market and consolidate Madrid as number one among clubs.”
Madrid will step up their campaign with a Far East tour this summer – in place of the traditional pre-season training in Switzerland – to play a series of games in China, Japan and Malaysia.
The Spanish champions play in Beijing on August 2, Tokyo three days later and Hong Kong on the eighth before finishing with a game against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on the 10th.
The authorities in China, only too aware of the fervour Madrid and Beckham will whip up, are planning a massive police presence.
Their arrival in Beijing will be overlooked by 6,000 security guards, while their week’s stay at the Kun Ming training camp will involve around 1,000 policemen providing 24-hour protection.
Beckham’s dramatic arrival in Madrid caused questions to be raised in the Spanish Parliament.
Political party Coalicion Canaria queried the numbers of police required to protect Beckham during his time in Spain and expressed concern that the England captain and his escort were allowed to drive at 180km per hour (60km over the speed limit) on public roads as they travelled from Torrejon airport to the Clinica de la Zarzuela, where he had his medical.
