Football is a global business these days, with the top Premier League clubs having fans not just in England, but all across the world.
Spurs are estimated to have 180 million fans worldwide and the biggest area of growth has been in Asia. A huge percentage of Tottenham’s global fanbase now comes from that part of the world, with 80 million Asian football fans now supporting Spurs.
The Premier League is a massive sporting success story, with a potential global TV audience of over 4.7 billion people, across 212 territories. Asia forms a large part of that audience, with English football proving to be hugely popular in that region and the Premier League catering to that audience, with the regular pre-season event -the Premier League Asia Trophy – which takes place in a different Asian location each year.
In a world where modern technology enables football fans to watch content in a variety of ways, it’s perhaps no surprise to find that the sport is so popular on a continent famed for its technological innovation. Asian companies lead the way in this sector, as evidenced by sites such as telecomasia.net.
Tottenham can boast of 44 official supporter groups across the continent of Asia. The club have also taken measures to widen their support by rolling out football coaching programmes across Asia, alongside the Spurs sponsor AIA. In the first year of this initiative, Tottenham development coaches worked with 10,000 young players and 500 coaches.
AIA have been Tottenham’s shirt sponsor since 2013. Headquartered in Hong Kong, AIA have a presence in 18 markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Spurs receive £40m per year, in a deal that runs to 2027.
A large factor in the continued popularity of Spurs in Asia, has been the success of Heung-Min Son since he joined the club in 2015. The South Korean forward has scored 103 goals in 270 games for Tottenham and has established himself as one of the Premier League’s best players.
As the captain of the national team, Son’s popularity in his homeland has resulted in Spurs becoming the most supported club in South Korea, overtaking Manchester United. Anyone that has been to a Tottenham game in recent years will have noted the numbers of South Korean fans, who make the long journey, to pay pilgrimage to their hero and the team.
With Son rumoured to be ready to sign a new contract at the club, Spurs are set to get even bigger in Asia.
