World Football Summit Asia makes Kuala Lumpur Asia’s Capital of Football

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach - April 29, 2019- The first Asian editionof World Football Summit, the international congress of the football industry,in Kuala Lumpur received a roaring reception from over 2,000 football industry professionalsfrom around the world. Themed 'Where Asian Football Industry Meets", thetwo-day summit successfully kick-started with important discussion topics andbusiness opportunities as part of its mission to elevate the football landscapeof Asia.

Dato' Haji Hamidin Haji Mohd Amin, President of FAM delivers the opening speech at the first ever World Football Summit Asia

Speaking at the summit, Mohan Rajaratnam, CEO of World Football Summit Asia shared, "I amproud to say that World Football Summit Asia has solidified its mark as the leadingplatform to gather the Asian football industry and making Kuala Lumpur thecapital of the football business for these two days. I must convey my deepestgratitude and appreciation to all of our partners, participating speakers andattending delegates from Malaysia and the rest of the world. We are confidentthat all attendees will achieve what they came here for, gaining greaterinsight to the industry and making connections, ultimately strengthening thedevelopment of Asian football."  

Jan Alessie,Director of World Football Summit added that: "We are extremelygratified that the first edition of World Football Summit Asia has been a greatsuccess. At the moment, the summit is being filled with prospects of hugepotential business opportunities and economic growth for Asia. It is important thatwe organise and attend such events where brands from Europe can meet andconnect with brands from Asia. Today, a bridge has been created between thesetwo giant markets and we need to keep the momentum going."

Throughout the inspiring dialogues, speakers anddelegates addressed the recognition of the growing importance and potential ofthe Asian football industry in terms of eSports, fan engagement, audio-visualrights, women's football, antipiracy efforts, technology innovation, and manyothers. Connecting and mobilising businesses across industries, sectors andnational borders through the summit are resulted in concrete action points inelevating the industry.

"We are seeing an overwhelming positive response to theinaugural Asian leg of the summit. Here, everyone is seeing the growingimportance of the Asian market from a geostrategic point of view and foreconomic development in the football industry. As the host country, we hope tosee Malaysia become a strategic market to penetrate and act as a meeting hubfor other Asian counterparts to gather and implement the best of practices. Thisis in line with our vision of ensuring that more Asian teams succeed on theworld stage and to make football the number one sport in the continent." - Dato' Windsor John, General Secretary ofthe AFC.

"As one of the fastest growing nations in the world,Asia will continue to remain an illustrious hub for business opportunities, especiallyfor European businesses to expand globally. From today, we can see that moreand more Asian businesses are also in the position of exploring new marketswhich makes a summit like this an ideal platform to collaborate withlike-minded people. As LaLiga aspires to double our viewership in Asia by 2020,working with the World Football Summit Asia as their global partner gives us theopportunity to help capitalize on the potential untapped market in Asia" - Oscar Mayo, International Director of LaLiga.

The summit gathered internationalattendees from over 60 different countries, where 70% of them were seniorexecutives, over 70 football clubs and 22 exhibitors. There was an impressiveline-up of the most recognizable and influential names in the football world including Dato' Windsor John, General Secretary of the AFC; OscarMayo, International Director at LaLiga, Luis Vicente, Chief DigitalTransformation & Innovation Officer at FIFA, Michael Higham, Head ofPartnerships at Sevilla FC, Pere Guardiola, Founder & CEO at Media BaseSports, Robert Klein, CEO at Bundesliga International GMBH, Jun Zhao, CEO atChina Sports Media, Sebastien Wasels, Managing Director Asia Pacific at PSG,Jordi Camps, Managing Director, APAC HQ at FC Barcelona, Ash Hashim, ExecutiveDirector at Futbolita.

To find out more about the speakers andevent details, please visit the summit's website: https://asia.worldfootballsummit.com.

Please findimages downloadable from:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=192Hx9D9JzB3CGlbbMABQKDiGI-fquZCx