Arsenal and Santa Rita tour China

English football club Arsenal and wine partner Santa Rita have been on tour in China during the Premier League side’s pre-season visit to Asia-Pacific.

The north London team are touring China and Australia ahead of the 2017-18 season and in-between games players have been meeting wine and footie fans.

The Chilean wine brand and its Chinese distributor COFCO have held a number of events recently including a tasting of its ‘120’ brand in Shanghai where 400 fans got to meet six members of the Arsenal squad.

Santa Rita also hosted fans aboard a river cruise ahead of Arsenal’s friendly against Bayern Munich earlier this month; in the company of former player Ray Parlour and the FA Cup trophy.

Finally, captain Per Mertesacker and midfielder Aaron Ramsey, alongside Santa Rita’s chairman Baltazar Sánchez and CEO Andres Lavados spent the afternoon with Chinese media at which a competition was announced; ‘120 hours with Arsenal’, where a few lucky fans will win a five day trip to London to spend time with the team.

Sánchez commented: “A year ago Arsenal FC and Santa Rita signed a partnership agreement. The mutual philosophy of commitment to and a long term vision for our communities have enabled us to expand our international markets and with that communicate our message of passion, quality and tradition to a diverse range of consumers.”

Castle Li, general manager of COFCO added: “Football is one of the most exciting languages in the world, and it definitely helps us grow in the Chinese market, passing on the core spirit of both brands.”