With close to 2.6 million fans on its official Facebook page, Southeast Asia's largest economy "proved to be a viable and important market" for Ligue 1 club Paris St. Germain, according to the JAKARTA GLOBE. The country is second only to Brazil which has 3 million people liking the club's Facebook page, "with France coming in third with just 2.2 million." PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi said, "Asia is one of the most important markets for us. We started focusing [on the region] two years ago. Hopefully we can go there soon. Because as you know we have more fans for example in Indonesia than France itself." PSG Deputy GM Frédéric Longuépée said that the five-time French champion "is keen to capitalize on its strong Facebook presence in Indonesia." The club in '14 established its Bahasa Indonesia website. But the club -- which since being acquired by Qatar Sports Investment in '11 has a goal of becoming "one of the biggest sports brand in the world" -- seems cautious about capitalizing on "its strong social media presence and establishing a bigger fan base." Despite having only 1 million Facebook fans, PSG has already made its presence known in India. The club has set up eight football academies in India, welcoming 1,000 children. Longuépée said, "We want to spend our energy where it's worth it. If we feel if a country is not ready, if we feel we are too far behind from other clubs [we won't go there]." PSG is "not yet a household name in Indonesia." After the club signed a sponsorship deal with Indonesian food and beverage company Garuda Food to promote its carbonated water brand Super O2 last year, PSG is "slowly starting to capitalize its huge social media presence and establish a solid Indonesian fan base." Longuépée said that one way is to "localize its online contents for the Indonesian audience." He said, "You do not only want to translate what we have on our French website. It is important to adapt the information for people in different countries. To have more fans you need to tell stories and be relevant" (JAKARTA GLOBE, 2/22).
