Why Anne Hathaway, Dua Lipa and Beyonce's support is so important to Arsenal and PSG

Telegraph

29-04-2025

If Declan Rice's free-kicks were the two most eye-catching moments of Arsenal's Champions League victory over Real Madrid, then Anne Hathaway's subsequent show of support might have been a close third. The Hollywood actress celebrated Arsenal's first-leg victory with an unexpected rendition of The Angel, the club's anthem.
Hathaway's performance, shared on her social media, prompted almost as many headlines as Rice's match-winning brace. A few weeks earlier, her post about Bukayo Saka's return from injury generated two million likes on Instagram, which was twice as many as Saka and Arsenal's own posts combined. Arsenal are a big deal but Hathaway, it seems, is even bigger.
🎶 North London Forever 🎶
Arsenal fan Anne Hathaway has shared her rendition of the club's iconic anthem after their victory against Real Madrid last night 🎤 pic.twitter.com/cEOtIRfvlB
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2025
The 42-year-old (who politely declined an interview request) is far from the only celebrity to align themselves with the Arsenal cause in recent years. Stars of the acting, music and fashion world have been increasingly leaning towards Arsenal, and in turn Arsenal have been gleefully embracing them.
Ahead of the first leg against Madrid, for example, the club published a pre-match video which featured an array of celebrity fans. Actors Idris Elba, Nicholas Galitzine, Will Poulter and Marisa Abela all featured, as did musicians Aurora and ODUMODUBLVCK. Later that night, pop sensation Dua Lipa was seen watching the game at Emirates Stadium. She then posed for pictures with Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori.
Nothing beats the excitement of those huge Champions League nights.
Let's make it happen 💫 pic.twitter.com/4scE1ot4Cf
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 8, 2025
This will feel familiar to Paris St-Germain, Arsenal's opponents in the Champions League semi-finals. Indeed, it could be argued that Tuesday's first leg is not only a clash of two excellent football teams, but also a battle of two of the biggest brands in the sport. Two clubs who want to win football matches and want to be seen as cool while doing so.
PSG, more than any other club over the last decade, have understood the commercial significance of aligning themselves with celebrity glamour. For the French side and their Qatari owners, it has been a deliberate and productive strategy that has helped them to average more than £300 million a year in commercial revenues over the past five seasons.
Collaborations with Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Travis Scott, plus the regular sight of A-listers – Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger and Rihanna, among others – at Parc des Princes, have made PSG a cultural and commercial international behemoth, as has their monstrously successful tie-up with the Jordan brand.
Beyoncé com uma camisola do PSG personalizada pela KOCHÉ 🇫🇷👑 pic.twitter.com/CxAiuvWaRX
— B24 (@B24PT) July 27, 2018
For much of the past decade, the French side have presented themselves as a high-end football club who moonlight as a luxury fashion label. Cynics might go further and argue they are more of a fashion brand with a football club attached. They have stores on the Champs-Élysées, Oxford Street, Fifth Avenue and Miami Beach, after all. It speaks volumes that one of their commercial partners is Dior.
'We are at this cultural high-point where 'cultural adjacents' are everything,' says James Kirkham, the founder of brand agency Iconic. 'It has never been more intertwined and interwoven, where fashion meets football and music meets gaming and gaming meets art. Football is absolutely at the heart of it, and PSG have arguably led the way.'
There are many similarities between Arsenal and PSG. As the best team in London over the last few years, Arsenal have become the destination club in the capital. PSG have that status in Paris – their club badge, featuring the Eiffel Tower, is effectively a statement of ownership.
These are creative, diverse, dynamic and fashionable locations – and these are the clubs who, above all others, strive to represent those cities in their marketing strategies. Arsenal's collaboration with clothing brand Labrum even resulted in Emirates Stadium hosting a fashion show earlier this season. Rice was among those who walked the pitchside runway.
Declan Rice walks for Labrum's London Fashion Week show at Emirates Stadium. pic.twitter.com/DygPR77uxs
— VERSUS (@vsrsus) September 16, 2024
For both clubs, the end goal is the same: to be seen as cool, and to reap the commercial rewards of such a status. To be a place where celebrities not only want to go, but also to be seen. To be a club that can successfully pump out new merchandise multiple times a season.
Arsenal's route to this point, though, has been different to the path taken by PSG. The French side's approach has been high-end celebrity glamour – with plenty of superstar footballers signed along the way – but Arsenal's has centred around a more urban, street vibe. They have aligned themselves with the local community in north London, for example in viral campaigns featuring local pubs and fish bars.
'Arsenal's output in the last five years has been nothing short of outstanding,' says Kirkham. 'They have played a north London urban card and they have done it brilliantly. It feels very tied to a north London identity. With Arsenal it feels like authenticity over glamour.'
🍽 Chip Inn Fish Bar
🐟 Home to the finest catches, on the other side of Holloway Rd.
🧤 Isn't that right, @AaronRamsdale98? #ArsenalSupportingSupporters pic.twitter.com/L23N8ckbYj
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 22, 2022
It helps Arsenal's cause that they now have a highly marketable team. The likes of Saka and Rice are two of the most recognisable faces of the England squad, while Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are up-and-coming teenagers who represent the youth of the local area. Martin Odegaard is a fashionable captain. And such is Calafiori's aesthetic appeal, he was last week named the underwear ambassador for sportswear giant Adidas.
Does any of this matter? To Arsenal's long-serving match-going fans, almost certainly not. If anything, all of these celebrities and merchandise launches might be a source of irritation. But to the club's financial standing? Absolutely. Arsenal's commercial revenues have trailed the biggest teams in Europe in recent years and this is one way of closing that gap.
The Deloitte Football Money League shows that, of the top 10 revenue-generating teams in the world, Arsenal had the lowest commercial revenues last season, with £218 million. This marked a 29 per cent increase from the previous campaign, though, so there can be no doubt that they are moving in the right direction.
Celebrity interest is just one small part of this wider picture, of course, and it is not always helpful. For example, the sight of controversial UFC fighter Conor McGregor on the Emirates pitch in October, play-fighting with Saka, was not one that pleased the club.
Those are the reputational risks involved, but for clubs like Arsenal and PSG there are plenty of rewards to be seized. These are two teams who, perhaps above all others, know the value of fusing their club with popular culture, of growing their brands beyond the pitch. They are competing not only for a place in the Champions League final, but also for street credibility and global appeal.
'We want to do something special': Arteta's rallying call to Arsenal fans
By Sam Dean
Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal's supporters to create the best ever atmosphere at Emirates Stadium in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg against Paris St-Germain, saying the occasion requires a night that the club 'has not seen'.
The Arsenal manager also told his players to channel the weight of the history on their shoulders, as the club looks to win the Champions League for the first time in their existence.
Arsenal blew away Real Madrid with a 3-0 thrashing at home in the previous round and are now hoping to replicate that performance against the French giants, who were defeated 2-0 at the Emirates in October.
'I am not exaggerating when I say: guys, bring your boots, bring your shorts, bring your shirts and let's play every ball together,' said Arteta in a rallying cry to the Arsenal supporters. 'We want to do something special. That place [the Emirates] has to be something special, something that we have not seen.'
Arteta admitted that he feels the weight of history in this competition but added: 'It's an opportunity. It's a moment now to say: 'OK, this is who we are, this is who we are as a team, this is who I am as an individual and I'm going to put my very best in there to make it happen'. Play with that mindset and let yourself go.'
The 5-1 aggregate victory over Madrid has given Arsenal huge confidence that they can defeat the French champions, who defeated Liverpool and Aston Villa to reach this semi-final.
'The players feel we can face these guys and we can be better than them,' said Arteta. 'That is the feeling we had against Madrid in the previous round, and through the group stages, and that is how we feel today. I look them [his players] in the eyes and they can't wait to play tomorrow. That is the feeling.'
Arteta's main selection issue will be replacing the suspended Thomas Partey, who was ruled out of this match because of a yellow card in Madrid. Declan Rice is likely to move to a more defensive midfield position, with Mikel Merino – if passed fit – and Leandro Trossard playing in the advanced roles further forward.
Arteta's enthusiasm and positivity contrasted with PSG's Luis Enrique, who used his pre-match press conference as an opportunity to rail against negativity from the French media.
PSG have won only one of their last four matches in all competitions but have already won the French championship. With their performances against Liverpool and Villa, they announced themselves as serious contenders for this season's Champions League.
'No one is talking about the goals or the games we've won, let's talk about our defeats, that's fine,' said Enrique, whose team were beaten at this stage of the competition by Borussia Dortmund last season. 'The questions coming from the media and even the questions the journalists ask, I think it is quite negative. But maybe that's just me.'
Probable line-ups
Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Rice, Merino; Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
PSG (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (SVN).