Asian soccer body signs major marketing deal

KUALA LUMPUR: Asia’s football body has signed a major commercial rights deal with sports marketing agency DDMC Fortis aimed at securing the financial future of the game in the region for the coming years.

The deal gives the agency, a joint venture between Chinese and Swiss groups, exclusive rights from 2021 to 2028 starting with the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said in a statement.

The AFC did not say how much the agreement was worth but reports put it at $3.4 billion, a huge boost for the rapidly growing football scene in Asia.

“This is a most significant day in the history of the AFC,” the body’s president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said as the deal was signed Monday in Kuala Lumpur, where the AFC is based.“With the signing of this contract, the AFC can guarantee its member associations that the game in Asia has tremendously solid financial foundations from which to build.”