PASSION PLAY: Soccer legend launches unique travel brand

Eric Cantona (c)

Former Manchester United and France captain Eric Cantona has launched a travel brand in collaboration with travel start-up DHARMA that will feature customized four-day trips designed by the legendary player to showcase global football (soccer) cities through the lens of some of the world’s most vibrant clubs and their loyal fans.

Operating under the brand ‘Looking FC’, the trips are dubbed “the most passionate football trips on earth,” each one culminating in a league or Champions League game-day experience with seats located in the “passion sections” of iconic stadiums. Tours also feature unique experiences such as fan chant workshops with superfans, sports-themed graffiti walking tours with local historians, and tactics briefings with leading journalists.

Each signature itinerary is designed for groups but is also bookable privately for friends and families. Prices start from €1,290 ($1,830) per person based on double occupancy and include all accommodations, experiences, most meals, guides, and match tickets.

Among the cities presently on offer this season (starting in March) include Manchester (United), Buenos Aires (Boca), Liverpool (Liverpool FC), Milan (Inter), Madrid (Real Madrid), Barcelona (Barca), Paris (PSG), Lisbon (Sporting), and Casablanca (Raja), with games including hot-tickets fixtures such as Liverpool-Manchester United at Anfield (Liverpool); the Real Madrid-Barcelona “El Clásico” at the Bernabeu, Madrid; and Le Classique between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

“Our idea was to create the most passionate football trips on earth, with charisma and soul. Everything today is optimized for price – we wanted to optimize for passion,” says Cantona.

In line with Cantona’s persona, Looking FC also takes a people, planet, profit approach and has announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Common Goal, donating 1% of its revenue to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Initiative. Each trip is built with an emphasis on supporting local businesses and all trips are carbon offset through Thrust Carbon.

The new travel brand is the latest in branded travel experiences pioneered by DHARMA. Launched in 2018 the Abu Dhabi-based company aims to empower “iconic lifestyle brands and global influencers to seamlessly create and launch their own travel brands for their own highly engaged audiences.”

Bonded by the Association of British Tour Agents (ABTA), the company boasts executives with backgrounds at such travel companies as Uber, Airbnb, Equinox, Butterfield & Robinson, and G Adventures.

“DHARMA brings the passion economy to the travel space by applying the people-buy-people mantra that has been tried and tested for products to experiences,” says company chief experience officer (CXO) Leah Howe. “When you build an experience for a specific community it is hyper-personalized. Am I going on a fitness trip curated by my favourite wellness instructor, or a culinary trip curated by a star chef, or on a football trip designed by my idol? The future of travel is social.”

DHARMA CEO and co-founder Charaf El Mansouri adds, “Over the next decade social media will drive the most significant disruption in travel history. Eric Cantona represents the authenticity and soul that 3B+ football (platform) fans crave around the world. We believe the future of travel will be driven by passion, not geography. As people re-assign their identities to online communities, the need for IRL (in real life) connection with like-minded people will only grow – that is the space DHARMA’s travel-brand-as-a-service model is pioneering.”

For info, look at https://www.lookingfc.com