Barça themed transport cards to celebrate Chinese New Year sell out in two hours
FC Barcelona is kicking off this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations with a hugely successful collection of limited edition transport cards for Culers in China. The version with the five cards inside a presentation case sold out just two hours after go-ing on sale. Barça is the first European football club to collabo-rate with Shanghai City Tour Card Development Co Ltd, the local transport authority, to launch a series of transport cards that can be used to travel across Mainland China. The cards can be purchased individually or as a collection comprising five cards each with a
unique design that incorporates the Camp Nou and Barça’s unique style of play merged with local Chinese architecture and art, featuring Lionel Messi, Frenkie de Jong, Sergi Roberto, Gerard Piqué and Marc-André ter Stegen.
The collaboration marks the start of a new FC Barcelona campaign in China, dubbed ‘All Journeys Lead Home’, representing the physical journey that Chinese Culers take during Spring Festival. Each year Culers embark on a trip to spend the holiday season with their families and this year Barça will accompany its 36 million Chinese fans on that journey. The campaign also reflects the spiritual journey that Culers take as Barça fans, with the Camp Nou as their home. Although fans are unable to visit the stadium, being a Culer transcends that and is all about travelling together as a community.
Ter Stegen, De Jong, Pedri and Dest presented the gift to fans in the form of a special video, telling Chinese fans that wherever they go, Barça will be by their side. As part of the campaign the players also created riddles for fans to guess where the six special vending machines are located within the Shanghai Metro. Barça is inviting fans to share their journeys with other Culers by posting pictures on social media of themselves with their cards in different places in China.
Leo Messi’s image depicts the unique melding of traditional and modern oriental aesthetics. De Jong’s features 3D modelling of China’s famous landscapes and FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou whilst Pique celebrates the charm of ink painting. Sergi Roberto’s card displays traditional and modern Chinese architecture through vibrant flat art and Ter Stegen honours the simple yet meticulous art of line painting.
A two-decade relationship
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the sister ties between the cities of Shanghai and Barcelona, an apt celebration considering FC Barcelona’s close ties with China. The club opened an office in Hong Kong back in 2013 to drive engagement with new and existing fans and grow partnerships in the region. Barça has since established invaluable partnerships across the APAC region, including OPPO, Taiping Life Insurance and Yunnan Baiyao in China, whose local expertise and knowledge play a vital role in growing awareness of the club and engaging with fans every day.
FC Barcelona is always exploring new ways to serve its fans across its digital channels in China, as illustrated by the way its social media accounts have amassed over 11.7 million followers. Barça was recently recognised as ‘The Most Popular Football Club 2020’ on Douyin at the ECOTIME x Douyin Annual Conference in Beijing.
Barça is planning a series of activations and exclusive content in the coming weeks for Chinese New Year in 2021, which this year falls on 12 February and will last for 15 days.