Like nearly all top-flight outfits in the world, the UAE's Pro League does not provide information on shirt sales. These are, after all, commercially sensitive pieces of information.
Most of the 14 Pro League teams have only recently been selling - or, I should say, displaying their official merchandise - at their official club stores.
None of these outlets, however, is in a major retail store.
It was not clear whether top stores such as Nike and Adidas, or the UAE-based retailer Sun & Sands Sports, had decided that displays of Pro League shirts take up more shelf space than sales would warrant, or if the clubs were not convinced the demand for their shirts was sufficient to distribute them.
Since the Pro League embraced a professional set-up ahead of the 2008/09 season, many major changes have been made and improvements ironed out, including making club merchandise more readily available to fans.
It is, perhaps, no surprise that the 10-time champions Al Ain were among the leaders. They were one of the first Pro League clubs to sell their official merchandise at their own small kiosk stores at many of the malls in Al Ain, such as Bawadi Mall, Al Ain Mall and Jimi Mall, and the shirts can be found in retail sports shops throughout the city. Most of these, however, are counterfeit replicas, but they carry a modest price tag of Dh30.
Now, when consumers walk into nearly any mall in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, they can expect to see a kiosk-type store of a local club, attractively branded with the club's colours, and selling a variety of merchandise from shirts to key chains and mobile-phone covers.
A major concern remains - the sale of fake replica shirts of the clubs, which can be easily found around the country. Typically, the world's big clubs prefer to distribute licensed and better-made shirts, at a higher profit margin. Many sports leagues and organisations are extremely jealous of their brand and aggressively pursue, through legal channels, those who sell inexpensive imitations.
However, merchandising by local clubs is not yet so sophisticated that they are incensed by knock-offs. It may actually be the only realistic way, at present, that fans can obtain shirts of Pro League sides, which serves to broaden the brand of the club and the league.
I was at a small retailer in Al Ain before the championship game of the Gulf Cup, in January, and UAE shirts with Omar Abdulrahman's nickname, "Amoury", were hot sellers. I asked the merchants to print Amoury's name on the Dh30 shirt I purchased, but they told me they had hundreds of printing orders ahead of mine, and they would not have time to print my shirt before kick off. This may have been unprecedented in UAE history.
It must be exciting to Pro League supporters that Sun & Sand Sports, with their new flagship Nike concept store, only last year made a decision to sell domestic football merchandise at their store. The new outlet, located in the Mall of the Emirates, is the first Nike concept store in the UAE that sells football shirts of local sides such as Al Ahli, Al Wasl and Al Wahda. This is a big step forward, but is it too late for licensed merchandise to gain a foothold in the market?
Recently, research done by the Sporting Intelligence website on the sales of club shirts found that cheaper counterfeit goods have damaged any plans for clubs, especially in east Asia, to bank on the sales of licensed shirts as a significant source of revenue.
The thinking is that it is hard to change the habits of consumers, who become conditioned to cheap prices for knock-offs - and that could be happening in the UAE, too.
It is impossible to be sure because the Pro League clubs and the kit suppliers do not publish figures for shirt sales. Finding reliable data is difficult.
At present, the owners or board members of Pro League clubs cover nearly all expenses generated by those clubs, which take in no revenue from ticket sales and limited revenue from corporate sponsorships and television rights.
It will take years for clubs to become self-sufficient and licensed shirt sales could be an important part of that, not only in generating revenue, but in brand exposure for Pro League clubs.
sports@thenational.ae
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Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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