Global Fútbol

Internationalisation is so important for football clubs nowadays, and clubs tend to identify a few key markets where they hope to make an impact. In the case of RCD Mallorca, they have singled out Japan as one of the territories where they believe they can and should grow their brand and their fanbase.

There are a few reasons for focusing on the Asian country, not least the fact that the club’s global main sponsor has been the Japanese company Taica Corporation for the past three years. Since the 2021/22 season, Alpha Gel by Taica Corporation has appeared on the team’s shirts and on other advertising supports at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix.

When the club renewed their sponsorship agreement with Taica Corporation in the summers of 2022 and 2023, a delegation from RCD Mallorca visited the Japanese capital of Tokyo to celebrate the decision to continue working together. The club even launched its 2022/23 shirt from Japan during one of these visits.

This June, another delegation from RCD Mallorca flew out to the Asian country, including the club’s Business CEO Alfonso Díaz as well as first-team captains Antonio Raíllo and Abdón Prats. During their stay, they visited Taica Corporation’s headquarters in Minato City and took part in an internal event with employees.

The visit also included a session with local media outlets, offering them the chance to ask questions about the 2023/24 season in which RCD Mallorca finished as runners-up of the Copa del Rey, a result which means they’ll play in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia next season.

Furthermore, RCD Mallorca organised a meet-and-greet session in the centre of Tokyo for fans to get to know Antonio Raíllo and Abdón Prats better. The Japanese football fans who attended could ask questions, in addition to having the chance to take photos with the players and to ask them to sign shirts. Club mascot Dimonió was present too, making it a fun family day out.

The players were able to learn about the country’s culture as well, given that they stopped by an authentic sumo wrestling gym and also had the opportunity to dress up in Japanese clothing. Not only did the two captains have fun, but these kinds of experiences help deepen the connection between RCD Mallorca and Japan.

A new agreement with Shimizu S-Pulse

During the trip, RCD Mallorca also extended their partnership with Japanese club Shimizu S-Pulse for another two seasons, celebrating the extension at the team’s IAI Stadium Nihondaira. Shimizu S-Pulse, who compete in the J2 League, also have Taica Corporation as a partner, so this has been a natural fit for both clubs. 

Given the success so far of the collaboration between the Spanish and Japanese clubs, they have agreed to keep working together for at least another two years. They’ll continue establishing synergies across continents and supporting each other in sporting and commercial matters.

As Alfonso Díaz stated after the event to mark the extension: “For us, this is a very beneficial international agreement. We have been growing in Japan for several years now and this collaboration helps open up possibilities for us, both in a sporting and commercial sense.”

An internationalisation strategy which is producing results

RCD Mallorca’s regular renewals of their agreements with strategic partners in Japan and the club’s annual visits to Tokyo have brought continuity to the institution’s internationalisation strategy for this part of the world. And, this has led to tangible growth in the popularity of Los Bermellones in the country.

According to data from Sportsnavi, which is the most popular sports search engine in Japan, RCD Mallorca were the European team with the highest percentage of views per clip in the 2023/24 season and the third with the most views, at 140 million, only behind Manchester City and Real Sociedad.

Given that there were no Japanese players in the 2023/24 RCD Mallorca first-team squad, it’s clear that this growth was achieved thanks to the club’s focus on growing the brand in the Japanese market and the club’s relationships with local partners such as Taica Corporation and Shimizu S-Pulse.