Glasgow football tourism firm nets seven-figure deal with Chinese group
● Contract will almost double turnover and taps into rapidly expanding market
A Glasgow-based sports tourism company offering tailored packages for football fans has scored a “significant” sevenfigure deal in China that is set to almost double its turnover.
Premiership Experience has cheered signing the agreement in Beijing with the unnamed conglomerate during a Scottish Chambers of Commerce trade mission. It came after nine months of negotiations, and comes amid booming popularity of English Premier League football in China.
The company, which was founded in 2010 by former professional footballer Kieran Coyle, who has played with Partick Thistle, Airdrie and Clyde FC, also said the identity of the Chinese group, headquartered in Henan Province, and the exact value of the contract, are not currently being revealed. However, it will almost double the Scottish company’s £1.5 million-plus turnover.
It was reached while Coyle and his operations manager Alistair Coull were taking part in the week-long trade mission to Beijing and Shandong Province that provided the company with many more “very promising” opportunities.
Premiership Experience, a member of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce since 2016, describes itself as one of the UK’S leading sports tour operators,offeringmatchdayexperience packages at top Premier League clubs to international tours at prestigious European academies. It works closely with schools, tour groups and families, and typically operates tours involving 400 to 500 people every weekend, ranging from £50 to £1,000-plus.
Originally a youth and UK football-only tour operator, the company has diversified into many other areas of experiential travel, focused on arts events such as theatre and dance, and covering a wide range of age groups.
It also said the breakthrough in China marks a major new phase of rapid re-investment and further internationalisation for the company. The deal was advised by Glasgow Law Practice.
Coyle said: “We already work in seven overseas markets, and since we received this approach from the Chinese side we have been inviting over small groups of Chinese children to test the cultural suitability of the products we offer.
“The terms of the deal mean that we will start on a small scale for the first year and scale up significantly moving forwards.”
Tim Allan, president of the Chamber of Commerce, who led the Chinese trade mission last week, said: “This is fantastic news from a superbly entrepreneurial young company.”