Atalanta BC is implementing its global strategic expansion plan, in order to bring all fans across the globe closer than ever to the team and the players.
The first step has been to set a footprint on Chinese social media platforms, considering the thousands of fans based in the region.
In December 2021 operations kicked off on Weibo, followed by the reboot of the website in Mandarin and the launch of accounts in Indonesia in June 2022.
Elisa Persico, Atalanta’s Head of Communications, elaborated and explained the international expansion plan: “After the steady growth of the last few years and the consolidation of the Atalanta brand at a national and European level, both on the field and on social media, we couldn’t help but aspire to engage new Atalantini all around the world. We’ve chosen therefore to move towards Asia, supported by our agency Ganassa, where we have pleasantly discovered a passionate fanbase, eager to bond with the Nerazzurri colours even more strongly. Our presence in China (Weibo), Indonesia (Facebook) and Japan (Twitter) aims to give value to the passion of Asian fans, allowing them to virtually travel thousands of kilometres and feel part of our team and our city”.
Atalanta Global Educational Hub (GEH) is a project aimed at sharing knowledge in different areas of the club’s core businesses – technical, communication, esports – with Atalanta’s global stakeholders.
Specifically in China, the club launched in February 2023 its first GEH affiliate program with local elementary schools in Guangdong province.
Atalanta Youth Sector’s excellence and know-how are globally renowned, consistently producing world-class talents like Scirea, Donadoni, Pazzini and most recently FC Barcelona Frank Kessié and Tottenham Hotspurs Dejan Kulusevski.
The program’s objective is to bring the Atalanta training and coaching methods at youth levels to the Chinese coaches and children, in order to enjoy football and be excellent at it.
The project currently has 324 students participating, with about 90% of them boys, ranging in age from 5 to 12 years old. The following short interviews were conducted with the coaches and students involved in the project:
Q: What are the benefits that Atalanta GEH has brought to the training? How do you feel to be able to learn from Atalanta Youth coaches through the digital classes?
Coach Liang: “The Atalanta program has been a great addition to us and has provided us with some very new methodologies as well as training methods. The materials provide a lot of fun and interesting training methods for students to learn football skills and develop awareness while having fun. This is good for both learning and for kids to increase their interest in football, which I think is great. Another thing is that Atalanta’s program boosts our confidence. Having a copy of the youth training material from a team in one of the top five European leagues gives us more confidence in our training. At the same time, I think it’s not only the students who benefit, but also all of our coaches can learn a lot from the material. In addition, it is certainly a great honour to be able to communicate and learn from the coaches of the Atalanta youth system, they are very professional and we will do our best to serve the students”.
Q: Are you happy to join the GEH classes with your friends? What have you learnt so far?
Student: “It was fun because we could play together after class. We learned to carry the ball and shoot. The coach taught us to find space when we carry the ball, and I really liked the ball-grabbing game in there. It was also fun to play games and score goals”.
Weibo: https://weibo.com/u/7466125849
Chinese website: https://ea.atalanta.it
