French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is celebrating Chinese New Year as part of growing links between the soccer giant and emerging sports spectator markets. A section of one of the stands in PSG's stadium in Paris has been covered with a huge banner of a tiger to mark China's Spring Festival celebrations.

The nine-time French champions, also changed the squad's shirt names to Mandarin for Sunday's game.

Some of its players - who are among the world's biggest soccer stars - have recorded video messages to mark the new Year of the Tiger.

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Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and European Cup winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma posted clips in Chinese as part of an annual campaign by the French club.

The PSG club president welcomed China's ambassador in France to the stadium ahead of what was a comfortable 4-0 win for the Parisians over Reims, at the Parc des Princes.

"We need to make a lot of effort in every single sector, including economy, trade, technology, sport and culture," said Lu Shaye, the Chinese envoy in Paris.

"But this has to go both ways. Mainly I think that our leaders really want to develop our global strategy between China and France. They are constantly in contact," he added. 

Sadly there was not a capacity crowd to witness the new year messages as coronavirus-protections limited the number of spectators in stadiums to a maximum of 5,000 people. Food and drink - usually key for fans -  are not being served either to avoid people congregating in queues.

The pandemic has been affecting France for exactly two years, with the first cases recorded on January 24, 2020. In that time, sports clubs have had to contend with lockdowns, reduced spectator numbers, and playing games behind closed doors.

The French league and the national football association opened a joint office in Beijing in 2017 with the goal of growing French soccer's reach in China. French teams previously played the Champions Trophy in China - the annual match between the league champions and the French Cup winners.

There was meant to be a league game this year between Monaco and Lyon in China but the COVID-19 restrictions forced a change of plan.

"We hope to tour again in China, maybe not with the Champions Trophy but something similar," said Nicolas Serres, PGS's vice-president of marketing. "Right now, traveling is a little more complicated but it is something we do have in mind.

"And this year, we are also hopeful that we'd be able to open an academy and maybe even stores in China to get even closer to our Chinese fans.”