PORTO — Victory for Manchester City over Chelsea in the
Champions League final in Porto on Saturday could have an impact well beyond
sporting pride.
A first ever title in Europe’s premier club competition
would complete City’s rise from Manchester’s “second club” to England’s top
team and experts believe that could be the missing element in creating a truly
global brand.
“The biggest trophy in club football is the Champions League
and winning that would certainly have an impact on their brand, that is why you
see clubs chasing it so hard, like Paris St Germain,” says Hugo Hensley, head
of sports services at Brand Finance.
PSG fell at the final hurdle last season, losing to Bayern
Munich, leaving their Qatari owners still searching for that defining trophy
that seals status in the game’s elite.
Unlike PSG, City have had to compete with one of the game’s
biggest name clubs being just down the road.
When billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan bought
the club in 2008, there was no doubting he had invested in the second club in
the city.
Manchester United were not just the most successful team in
England they were a global brand attracting fans from across the world.
United had everything needed for football and commercial
success - one of the game’s top managers in Alex Ferguson, world-class players
such as Cristiano Ronaldo and a brand already rooted in success was glowing
from a third European Cup/Champions League triumph.
City had a tradition of their own — they were one of
England’s top teams in the late 1960’s — but as recently as nine years before
the Abu Dhabi group took control, they had been languishing in the third tier.
On the field, things have changed dramatically.
While United have struggled for success since Ferguson’s
departure in 2013, City have won five of the last nine Premier League titles,
including three of the last four.
In Pep Guardiola, the club has a manager widely viewed as
the most innovative and effective in the game and they have a team packed with
international talent, producing entertaining football.
That is all more than enough for the club’s supporters of
course, who know they are now the top dogs in their city and in the country.
But when it comes to being a global brand and international
business, United still feature above City in most evaluations.
In terms of financial value, the Forbes and Deloitte
rankings, place United fourth in the world and City sixth.
When it comes to the broader, brand value, the calculations
from Brand Finance place United third and City fourth — Spain’s Real Madrid and
Barcelona are in top spots.
As United fans would be quick to point out, while they have
won the European Cup/Champions League three-times City have never been European
champions.
The only triumph for the Sky Blues in continental
competition came in the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 51 years ago.
“The peripheral fan who maybe only watches the Champions
League latter stages, is going to be exposed to Manchester City, it brings a
greater exposure to that wider audience,” says Hensley.
“In terms of building the value of the brand, what that does
for them is, it can increase their ability to sell sponsorship contracts, get
sponsorships in more categories, and then build more loyalty among those
sponsors, which is what that really branded aspect of the business is about,”
he said.
United still generate around $142 million more than City in
annual revenue and they would also point to a greater global digital reach
which increasingly drives their sponsorship deals.
A Champions League triumph for City would come at a bad time
for United whose American owners, the Glazer family, are facing protests from
some fan groups while the team are smarting from losing the Europa League final
to Spain’s Villarreal on Wednesday.
Victory in Porto might not catapult City above United in
financial and brand terms but it would certainly move them much closer.
“It will help them close the financial gap. In terms of
global branding they are still some distance behind United,
Madrid, Barca,
Bayern, Juve and, probably, Liverpool,” says football finance analyst Rob
Wilson of Sheffield Hallam University.
“They have too little history but they are certainly on an
upward curve - and a Champions League win will undoubtedly accelerate things”.
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