Anta Sports Products Limited, the Chinese footwear brand, announced the full launch of its “Play Is All” soccer strategy, an effort by the company to tap the soccer market. Anta Sports will launch professional soccer boots that best fit the feet shape of China’s young soccer players, and is committed to promoting the robust development of youth soccer in China in the long run through match organisation; the training of young soccer players and coaches in cooperation with the Evergrande Football School, Jiangsu Administration of Sports and Shuhua Company Limited; and the appointment of famous soccer players such as Asian Footballer of the Year and current captain in the China’s national soccer team Zheng Zhi as Anta soccer promotion ambassador and former Chinese national soccer team players Fan Zhiyi and Xu Yang as Anta soccer coaches.
A soccer strategy with four-pronged campaigns
As China places great importance on soccer development, the new soccer initiative is bound to generate much excitement. Talented young soccer players are the foundation for raising the standard of soccer in China and developing the country’s soccer market. Anta’s role as a leading sportswear brand in China, and its decision to make soccer one of the pillars of the brand’s future development will have far-reaching significance. As a professional sports brand focused on boosting the robust development of youth soccer in China in the long term, Anta will facilitate “Play Is All” by letting young players experience the joy of soccer and providing everything else, such as organising matches, training coaches, offering gear as well as building pitches.
The “Play Is All” soccer strategy involves four key campaigns – including matches, coaching, gear and pitches – and aims to increase the number of young soccer players and allow more young soccer lovers to enjoy better conditions when playing soccer, which will help spur the long-term healthy development of soccer in China. The four key campaigns include:
1. Anta Soccer Matches – Anta is forming a strategic partnership with the Jiangsu Province Administration of Sports to establish the Jiangsu Youth Soccer League. Soccer promotion activities such as training camps and carnivals will also be launched. If successful, Anta hopes to replicate the Jiangsu model in other provinces and cities so as to promote soccer to young people across the nation. In addition, Anta Sports will also work with the Jiangsu Administration of Sports to create the Jiangsu Youth Soccer League and hold more than 200,000 league matches, which will cover 1,000 elementary schools, junior and senior high schools, and operate at five levels, namely the school, county, city, regional and provincial levels. An estimated 20,000 youngsters are expected to compete in the matches.
2. Anta Soccer Coaching – Anta is forming a strategic partnership with Evergrande Football School in which Anta will provide professional soccer gear to the renowned soccer academy and to the school’s elite soccer team. Anta will also work with Evergrande Football School to launch four soccer training courses and coach training classes every year, with the Evergrande Real Madrid coaching team training elementary and high school coaches. The program is expected to produce 2,000 professional youth soccer coaches in the next three years. Fan Zhiyi, named Asian Footballer of the Year in 2001 and former member of China’s national soccer team, and Xu Yang, also a former member of China’s national soccer team and a renowned soccer commentator, have been invited to be Anta soccer coaches and will participate in Anta’s coach training and campus soccer promotion campaigns.
3. Anta Soccer Gear – Anta collected data on the feet of 16,000 young people from across the country to design professional soccer boots that will give the best fit for young soccer players in China. After more than 1,000 hours of development and design work, Anta is set to launch a full series of soccer boots to suit the different types of soccer pitches, including natural turf, artificial turf, gravel, boarded floors, crumb rubber and cement. Anta will launch a series of professional soccer boots that offer good value-for-money in succession, starting with the launch of childrens’ soccer boots, with prices starting as low as RMB199, in the fourth quarter this year. Soccer boots for teenagers and adults will be launched in the first quarter of next year, with prices to range from only RMB299 to RMB599.
4. Anta Soccer Pitch – Anta Sports will partner with Shuhua Company Limited, a fitness equipment company in China, to develop soccer pitches and to build and promote cage soccer (“PKO”) leveraging the advantages of the highly modular and adaptable Shuhua PKO pitch products, which are also easy to install, as a solution for the lack of soccer pitches in China. In future, Anta will join hands with Shuhua Company Limited to promote PKO on campuses across the country to promote the development of soccer in schools.
Creating value-for-money soccer gear that gives the best fit for Chinese feet
Anta is set to launch youth soccer boots based on big data on young Chinese people’s feet, using precise multi-dimensional models and an advanced motion analysis system. These boots feature an upper that perfectly fits the young wearers’ feet during movement and provides excellent support and protection. The upper of the soccer shoes is made of soft leather, which is combined with energy feedback material so as to enhance durability and performance. Supported by flywire, which locks the structure, and stretchy elastic thread lines, the boots provide great comfort to the soccer players’ feet on the field. Top materials, excellent craftsmanship and extremely attractive prices make Anta’s youth soccer boots essential low-priced football gear that nonetheless offers high quality.
James Zheng, executive director of Anta Sports and Anta Brand president, said, “The Chinese government places great importance on the development of football. The continuous progress of China’s Football Reform Plan will most certainly bring the Chinese soccer industry into a golden age. Therefore, there is huge market potential for soccer in China. Anta will provide the most professional products and services for soccer lovers, as well as the best exercise experience. We are confident that soccer will become a core product category in Anta's portfolio.” He added, “Our entry into the soccer market is an important step in our branding development strategy. The core of Anta’s strategy is to promote the long-term development of young football players in China, and to provide the most professional, reliable and affordable high-quality football products for young soccer lovers who can own a pair of professional soccer boots for the price of ordinary soccer boots, so that ‘Play Is All’ they will have to care about.””
