Anyone who happened to enter the Nike store on Avenida Americas on Monday afternoon would have found themselves standing before one of the most famous trophies in world soccer.
Local fans were invited to pose for photos with the English Premier League trophy, which was displayed for a matter of hours as part of Manchester United’s current promotional tour of Latin America.
The trophy will now travel to Pachuca on Tuesday for the induction of two Manchester United legends into the city’s renowned Hall of Fame. Although unable to make it in person, English World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton and Scottish forward Denis Law did attend the first leg of United’s tour in Chile last week.
From Pachuca the trophy will be taken to Mexico City for a few days, before continuing to Ecuador, Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires, and then eventually returning to England.
With a spare day in Mexico, the club decided to make a last minute detour to Guadalajara, the hometown of one of its most promising talents. The city is the birthplace of Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, the young Mexican striker who joined United last year and has since become one of the Premier League’s biggest stars.
The signing of Hernandez has won United millions of new fans and exposed the club to the lucrative Mexican market, with a massive increase in local shirt sales recorded over the past year.
“It’s so nice to be able to give something back to these fans who are so passionate about the game but might never get the chance to see this trophy otherwise,” said Eleanor Utku, the club’s events executive.
When the United delegation arrived at the airport a number of Mexican journalists asked the trophy minder for interviews, having mistaken him for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, to whom he bears a slight resemblance.
As the club’s sponsors, Nike had the privilege of hosting the Premier League trophy during its brief stay in the city. Last season United won the Premier League for the 19th time, beating Liverpool’s previous record of 18.
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