Berliner Boersenzeitung - Celtic reap rewards of Japanese market on and off the pitch

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.961758
ALL 98.138602
AMD 405.652886
ANG 1.877182
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.720247
AUD 1.602814
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.955573
BBD 2.102956
BDT 124.465544
BGN 1.955294
BHD 0.392554
BIF 3076.642669
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.403837
BOB 7.197164
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.041579
BTN 87.914489
BWP 14.229347
BYN 3.408604
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.099456
CAD 1.456529
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930957
CLF 0.036923
CLP 1018.83097
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4573.368835
CRC 530.538382
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.252195
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.478458
DKK 7.457729
DOP 62.772709
DZD 139.835759
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 127.508391
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831435
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.456089
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8977.957272
GTQ 8.040066
GYD 217.904692
HKD 8.109446
HNL 26.320943
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.72412
HUF 411.522823
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.863061
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1364.44153
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 165.930728
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.242873
KES 134.884334
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4193.512952
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.867999
KZT 520.059599
LAK 22878.342838
LBP 93271.167197
LKR 303.144792
LRD 187.998165
LSL 18.795317
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.086409
MAD 10.478083
MDL 18.997794
MGA 4861.435378
MKD 61.522855
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.35093
MRU 41.443187
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1806.090235
MXN 21.281613
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.795317
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.325549
NOK 11.531328
NPR 140.663663
NZD 1.78585
OMR 0.400943
PAB 1.041579
PEN 3.949541
PGK 4.193513
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.239507
PLN 4.337676
PYG 8131.055634
QAR 3.798559
RON 4.978071
RSD 116.991412
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1421.834864
SAR 3.911473
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.272055
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.501974
SGD 1.402931
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.230868
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.113941
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.788818
THB 35.922648
TJS 11.092512
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.309016
TOP 2.440072
TRY 36.018972
TTD 7.074178
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2770.578216
UAH 43.089995
UGX 3848.553017
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.294855
UZS 13362.448044
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 655.880824
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.792308
XOF 655.880824
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.862746
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.772658
ZWL 335.468513
  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

Celtic reap rewards of Japanese market on and off the pitch
Celtic reap rewards of Japanese market on and off the pitch

Celtic reap rewards of Japanese market on and off the pitch

Celtic and Rangers will renew their rivalry on Wednesday in a crucial battle for supremacy in the Scottish Premiership with a new legion of fans set to rise at the crack of dawn to tune in from Japan.

Text size:

The Hoops have already claimed the first silverware of the Scottish season, lifting the League Cup in December thanks to two goals from Kyogo Furuhashi.

Furuhashi's 16 goals in 26 games since he joined Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou in swapping the J-League for Scotland has made the Japanese international an instant hero and tempted Celtic to dip into the Far East market again.

New Year celebrations for fans in Glasgow started early when the club announced the signings of Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi and Daizen Maeda on December 31.

Hatate and Maeda have already made an impact, scoring in wins against Hearts and Hibernian as Celtic closed to within just two points of Rangers in the title race with three league meetings between the sides still to come this season.

Postecoglou knows the market well after he spent three-and-a-half years in charge of Yokohama Marinos.

"The deals wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Postecoglou being at Celtic," Japanese football expert Sean Carroll told AFP.

The Australian's judgement has been backed by a board keen to make the most of bargain prices and the commercial opportunities on offer in Japan.

Even once a compulsory purchase option in Maeda's loan deal is exercised, all four signings will have cost Celtic less than £10 million ($13.5 million).

"If you're looking at the fees for Maeda and Hatate, Celtic have committed a robbery of a scale it's impossible to describe," said Dan Orlowitz, sports writer for the Japan Times.

"Japanese clubs still take an element of pride in sending their players to Europe," Carroll explained.

"If J-League clubs held out for equivalent fees to those paid for players already in Europe, clubs wouldn't shop in this part of the world as, rightly or wrongly, they are seen as still not being at the requisite level for European football."

- Culture clash -

Celtic have enjoyed the benefit of a Japanese superstar on and off the field before.

Shunsuke Nakamura won three league titles in four years at Celtic Park between 2005 and 2009 and famously scored the winning goal with a stunning free-kick to beat Manchester United in the Champions League.

Celtic's current quartet of Japanese imports do not yet have the same star attraction in their homeland as Nakamura did, but their presence is being noticed.

The Celtic FC Japan Twitter account that was only launched in July already has more followers than Paris Saint-Germain's Japanese language account.

"Celtic has a huge opportunity now," said Cesare Polenghi, whose digital media company Ganassa runs the club's Japanese accounts. "I'm quite sure if there was no Covid that they would be coming to Japan in the summer."

The limited international exposure of Scottish football means Celtic are a long way off attracting sponsors of the size of Rakuten and Yokohama Tyres, whose names have been blazed across the front of Barcelona and Chelsea's shirts in recent seasons.

But having four players for Japanese fans to follow offers a better chance of commercial returns.

"We're confident because of the quality of the players and the intelligence of the manager," said Polenghi.

However, the culture clash between what appeals to fans following in English and Japanese could be evident this week for one of football's fiercest derbies.

"In Japan, the people really don't like much bashing the other teams," said Polenghi. "The idea is you still have to respect your opponent."

Mutual respect is rarely high on the agenda of an Old Firm clash.

Rangers revelled in ending Celtic's quest for a record 10th consecutive league title last season.

Now Postecoglou's men have the chance to lay down a marker by moving top for the first time since August.

(S.G.Stein--BBZ)