KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 – Local football fans are slowly warming up to UEFA European Championship 2016 (Euro 2016) which will kick-off in France on June 10. Like Euro 2012 jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine, high demand for team jerseys by fans gives an opportunity for distributors and sellers to register more sale.
Thiaga, 51, the supervisor of G. S. Gill, the oldest sports equipment store, said as the legitimate distributor of Adidas, they had started selling football jersey of Spain and Germany since last December. Meanwhile, he also said that their sale is dependent on the customers.
“Some buy during the tournament while others buy as the tournament nears. Some people buy because they are hardcore fans of certain teams. The sale of team jerseys depended on the support of fans for their fovourite teams during Euro 2016. In fact, some will buy jerseys after the tournament is over as a sign of their support for the winning team,” he told the reporters here Friday.
The staunch fan of Germany said customer response to team jerseys had been encouraging but it was still early to talk about the sales figure. Meanwhile, another dealer who declined to be identified said his shop at Pertama Complex only sold the team jerseys of Spain and Germany. “When the tournament gets nearer, we will sell the jerseys of other teams.”
He said usually, the teams would introduce new kits for Euro and this would draw fans to buy them. Euro 2016 matches will be played in 10 venues – Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne and Toulouse. For the first time since 1996, the tournament will be contested by 24 teams compared to 16 teams previously.
