Espanyol wrapped up its stay in the U.S. with a match at FC Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium.Espanyol
Real Madrid and Barcelona were not the only La Liga clubs building their U.S. fanbases over the past couple weeks. Unlike their star-studded league rivals, which returned to the bright lights of L.A., N.Y. and Miami, among other U.S. cities, for this year’s version of the Int’l Champions Cup, Espanyol traveled to Richmond, Va.
"We need to find our niche," Espanyol Marketing Dir Antoni Alegre said. "We cannot go everywhere, but we have two good options in Richmond and Cincinnati, because they are places where we can try to add value with the youth academies and the people here. It’s not the same in another city like New York, where there are a lot of Champions League brands."
The club spent eight days in the U.S., working with the Richmond Kickers of the United Soccer League for most of the trip before wrapping up with a friendly against USL club FC Cincinnati. A year ago, La Liga side Valencia played preseason matches against FC Cincinnati and North American Soccer League side New York Cosmos. Valencia and the Cosmos met in Saskatchewan, Canada. Both Valencia's '17 trip and Espanyol's tour this year came under the umbrella of a longstanding initiative by the Spanish league.
"La Liga World Challenge is a huge program that we have with the Spanish government to develop the Spanish brand," La Liga Institutional Representative for Int’l Development Nico Garcia said. "Espanyol is a club that is really open to what we’ve asked. It was easy because we have a club that is really interested in coming to the U.S. ... It’s a key market for them and it’s a key market for La Liga, so it was something natural to do."
The primary objective of the trip was to prepare first-year Manager Rubi and the squad for the upcoming season, which is why the team settled in Richmond, leaving only for the match against FC Cincinnati. Espanyol defeated Richmond 4-2 on July 25 in front of a crowd of 7,356 before beating FC Cincinnati 3-2 on July 28 in front of more than 16,000 fans.
While the club spent most of its time on the pitch, a number of Espanyol players spent July 26 at Richmond Raceway to learn more about the uniquely American sport of NASCAR.
"We need to know the environment," Alegre said. "We need to know what people like here in the U.S., because NASCAR does not exist in Spain. ... We need to exchange experiences with different sports here in the U.S."
Espanyol has a U.S. presence via its academies in L.A., New Jersey and Miami, but it was the first time the club brought its first team to North America. Coaches from Espanyol and the Kickers were able to observe each other’s practices, some of which were open to the public. The Spanish club also held a children’s clinic last Monday. Alegre said that his club hopes to stand out from its int'l competitors by forming a close relationship with organizations like the Kickers. With that in mind, he emphasized the importance of staying active in the market after the trip.
"After all the promotion this week in the U.S., we need to follow up our actions and not be here only one week and that's all," Alegre said. "We need to come back here again as soon as possible. The schedule for a professional team is so difficult, but we can organize other types of actions to take to keep in contact with the fans here."
