Spanish La Liga club Valencia CF who are owned by Singaporean Peter Lim recently opened a commercial office in the lion city and it now looks as if Italian giants Inter Milan will follow suit with an Asian office in Jakarta, home to their owner Erick Thohir.
Valencia CF chose Singapore for their Asian base as they begin to work on raising the profile of the club, who are now in the Champions League group stages, and seek out commercial and branding opportunities for Asian and other brands to be associated with the club.
Over in Jakarta Thohir said he had discussed the Asian office plan with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who has been trying to boost Indonesian football with his launch of two tournaments – the Independence Cup and the President's Cup over the past month.
Inter Milan is already a well-known club around Asia and should be able to leverage on its long and distinguished history to attract commercial partners.
For Asian brands looking to promote their goods or services into Europe, using an established sports team or a well known individual sportsman or woman can be an effective medium.
