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THU 16 MAR 2023 | GLOBAL GROWTH
SD Huesca continue to find new connections in Japan while strengthening existing links with this strategic market
SD Huesca continue to find new connections in Japan while strengthening existing links with this strategic market
  • The LaLiga SmartBank club just signed a sponsorship agreement with Skylight Consulting, making the Japanese company the club’s first international partner
  • Over the years, SD Huesca have established several other connections with the Asian country, such as a programme to bring young Japanese talents to Spain to train at the club

When Shinji Okazaki arrived at SD Huesca in 2019, the directors at the club insisted that they wanted to develop long-term connections in Japan, ones strong enough to survive Okazaki’s eventual departure. Through hard work and careful relationship-building, SD Huesca lived up to that promise and have been able to continue working in the Asian country even after the Japan international departed in 2021.

Even though SD Huesca this season have another Japanese player in their ranks, in midfielder Kento Hashimoto, their connections in Japan now go beyond the attraction of having a Samurai Blue player in their squad.

Diego Pesque, director of marketing and communications at SD Huesca, explained: “We want our internationalisation strategy to go beyond football and to not depend on always having a Japanese player in the squad, even if for now this is still essential. We want to establish links on a social, cultural and political level as well. So far, we are very satisfied. We are seeing interest from Japan and opportunities are coming up.”

Three new connections: SDH Academy Japan, FC Basara Hyogo and Skylight Consulting

The club recently established some new connections in the country. There is the SDH Academy Japan in Hyogo, a project the club has worked on alongside Okazaki, with the former player now an ambassador for SD Huesca in his home country. He wants Japanese youngsters to have the chance to experience European football and a new culture and SD Huesca are helping him with this.

In January, another agreement was signed with FC Basara Hyogo. This included the desire to jointly launch various sporting projects, including collaboration on the SDH Academy Japan initiative, as well as the willingness to share the SD Huesca training methodology and the commitment to bringing about synergies between Huesca and Hyogo businesses.

Then, in March, SD Huesca incorporated Skylight Consulting as a new regional partner in Japan with the aim of connecting with new fans and seeking business opportunities in Asia. The Japanese consultancy firm has become the LaLiga SmartBank club’s first international sponsorship partner.

On this, Pesque stated: “This is an agreement that reinforces our international strategy, especially in Japan. It allows us to progress alongside an established brand in Asia and it serves as a platform for reaching even more people in the strategic market that is Asia.”

Making the Skylight Consulting agreement particularly appealing to SD Huesca is the fact that the company has a genuine interest in the city and province of Huesca and in the autonomous community of Aragon. Flying the flag for the region is important to SD Huesca, as was clear to see a few years ago when the club teamed up with Real Zaragoza and the tourism board of the Aragon government to promote Aragon in Japan.

With Skylight Consulting, the club can see similar opportunities to promote tourism. As Pesque explained: “SD Huesca doesn’t only represent the city of Huesca, as the club represents the whole province of Huesca and AltoAragon, and Skylight Consulting is fully aware of this. One of the attractive aspects of this agreement is Skylight’s interest in working on projects that make the province of Huesca better known in Japan.”

SD Huesca’s efforts to strengthen existing links with Japan

As well as continually searching for new deals and opportunities in what is such a strategic market for the club, SD Huesca continue to develop previous projects. An alliance between SD Huesca, the club’s Alcoraz Foundation and Wakatake Group is going from strength to strength and four more youngsters have flown out from Japan to train at the club’s facilities this spring.

Juanjo Camacho, head of strategy and project development at the Alcoraz Foundation, said: “We are proud to be able to repeat this initiative from the Alcoraz Foundation and Wakatake Group, with this programme evolving with each edition. This time it is even more special due to the fact that the families of our youth players will host the boys in their own homes. This allows them to grow culturally as much or even more than on a sporting level.”

These kinds of cultural connections go a long way to strengthening the SD Huesca brand and the perception of the club in the Asian country, so it’s important that this project continues to develop in the way that it is.

On top of that, SD Huesca continue to post on their Japanese social media profiles and to stay up to date with the activities of the fan group that has been set up in Kyoto, called Peña Nipona SD Huesca. As they keep seeking new connections in Japan, they are still developing the existing ones too.

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