Kieran Maguire: Celtic generating ‘huge interest’ as new Japanese deal agreed
A quartet of Japanese players and former J1 League boss Ange Posteocglou have helped Celtic generate “huge interest” in Japan.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Hoops’ influence on the SPFL’s new Japanese TV deal.
As reported by Sport Business on Monday (18 July), SPOTV has acquired the rights to stream the 2022-23 Scottish Premiership season in Japan.
The broadcaster will air one live match per reason and their focus will be on Celtic.
The 2021-22 Scottish Premiership champions have Japan stars Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furhashi on the books.
And Ange Postecoglou took charge of the Glasgow giants in June last year after three years at Yokohama F. Marinos.
Maguire claims that the localised interest in Celtic could see them head to Japan on pre-season tours in future years.
“It’s a tough gig for Scottish football to get viewers in overseas markets because it tends to be dominated by Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and so on,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“Having a huge local interest, as with Celtic, is beneficial. It could be that Celtic themselves can take advantage of this in terms of pre-season tours.
“This would soften up the market and get exposure for the club which is key in negotiations with promoters going forwards.”
Celtic play their final pre-season friendly against Norwich City on Saturday (23 July).
Posteocglou’s side then get their 2022-23 campaign underway against Aberdeen next Sunday (31 July).
In other news, ex-Fifa official issues “red flag” warning after “amazing” Celtic and Rangers development.