WHILE ONE BRITISH BANK CLAIMS “never to underestimate the importance of local knowledge”, it is with the same maxim in mind that a host of Barclays Premiership clubs have been trying to consolidate and strengthen their footholds in the most lucrative football market of all — Asia.

As recently as 20 years ago, English clubs viewed Asia as little more than an irrelevance. Countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand had neither established leagues nor national teams that were anything but cannon fodder for the rest. The inception of the FA Premier League in 1992 changed all that. Clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal were suddenly being televised around the world and nowhere more so than Asia, where a passion for football had finally being stirred.

United were the first to take advantage by tapping into a number of Asian markets and others quickly followed suit. Of United’s estimated global fan base of 75 million, 40.7 million live in Asia and Australia. That parts of the Asian market are now “close to reaching saturation point”, according to Andy Anson, the United commercial director, reflects how busy Premiership clubs have been exploiting overseas revenue streams.

It has not all been one-way traffic, however. The formation of the Premiership helped to trigger a boom in Asian football that resulted in the creation of the J-League in Japan in 1993 and the S.League in Singapore two years later. South Korea’s K-League, which compromised only five teams when it formed in 1983, now boasts 13 clubs.

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