Manchester City have seen a surge in demand for tickets and memberships on the back of a record year of sales as they prepare for their first home game of the season.
The Premier League champions play Bournemouth at the Etihad on Saturday in the first appearance for Pep Guardiola and his players since their dramatic 3-2 victory over Aston Villa that sealed the title on the final day of the last campaign back in May. It has been a summer of change for the squad, with the club seeing five senior players depart and setting a new competition record for the most money raised through player sales in a single transfer window (a guaranteed £161m) in the process.
City have largely replaced those who have moved on though, and in Erling Haaland (£51m) have landed one of the most exciting signings in Premier League history. The Norwegian opened his account in style with two goals in the opening game of the season at West Ham and has helped to boost interest in the team ahead of the new season.
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City Women have also had a major spike ahead of their new campaign after the roaring success of the Lionesses. The club have sold more than twice as many season tickets as last year and have also fully sold out of seated capacity for their opening WSL home game on September 11 - a mouthwatering tie against last season's runners-up Arsenal.
In addition to that, the club sold over 10,000 derby tickets for their December clash against Manchester United in the first week after announcing that the game would be played at the Etihad Stadium. City briefly held the record attendance in the WSL for a derby game that attracted 31,209 in September 2019, and will be hoping for more as they look to take advantage of the game being played during a break in the men's season for the World Cup.
As well as increased interest on the back of success, the surge in numbers of people wanting to watch City this season can also be put down to the return of normality after the pandemic. There were still travel restrictions in place at the beginning of last season and more uncertainty around Covid-19, but many lives have gotten back to normal over the last year.
“It’s really encouraging to see the excitement in the club both locally and globally, at such an early stage of the season, particularly on the back of the pandemic and following our first full season with crowds for a number of years," said Danny Wilson, head of operations at City.
“We’re seeing a strong increase in interest across various areas including ticketing, membership and hospitality, in addition to a record year for our retail sales last season, and these are key indicators of the club’s worldwide growth on the back of the on-pitch success of our teams and our commitment to developing new experiences and offerings for our fans. We look forward to welcoming fans from near and far to our home games this season."
Growing interest in watching the City teams reflects a wider theme across the club. Last season was the most successful year to date for retail, and both the new home and away kits for this season broke records for their opening-day sales. The club's first pre-season tour for three years, and their first matches back in the United States since 2018 - which included the launch of the new away kit featuring Haaland and Guardiola at the NASA base in Houston - helped to see an upturn in sales from the US and also make July the latest record-breaking month for sales.
City have also capitalised on the ambition from sponsors to be associated with their footballing success. Asahi, the Japanese beer company, are the latest to strike a multi-million pound deal while Recast, Gatorade, Acronis and OKX have all invested more money into City Football Group in the last few weeks.
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