Replies to Media ● Apr 24, 2014
FAS’ reply to media queries on Sports Sponsorships in Singapore
“Sponsorship is one of the key components vital to footballing success and the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is grateful to our partners and sponsors, including Great Eastern, RHB Bank, Yeo’s, StarHub, Courts, Epson and AirAsia, among others, for their staunch support over the years. We are pleased to note that most of these sponsors have been renewing their sponsorships, which is a strong indication of the branding value of our footballing properties.
“These partnerships are mutually beneficial to both FAS and our sponsors, and we work very closely with them on several areas to improve Singapore football, including youth development, which is in line with the FAS Strategic Plan. Earlier this year, with the support of our partner Air Asia, we sent two players, Andin Addie Djayady and Syafiq Irawan from the National Football Academy Under-17 for a training stint at the Queen Park Rangers Academy.
“Another area in which sponsors play a key role is fan engagement. Epson sponsored and installed new projections at Jalan Besar Stadium to better engage fans during matches. And more recently, StarHub launched a fan engagement campaign in which one passionate LionsXII fan was given a special tribute in a match at Jalan Besar Stadium.
“Mr David Borja, FIFA Senior Manager, Development Programmes Asia, expressed last year that he was impressed and encouraged by the progress of FAS’ Strategic Plan despite FAS not getting the necessary resources needed to execute the various programmes. Therefore, apart from sponsorships, FAS is actively seeking to expand our revenue streams through fundraising efforts and events, among others, which will strengthen our ability to implement the key programmes spelt out in the FAS Strategic Plan.
“We are humbled to note that our vision and footballing programmes have been endorsed and praised by several leading football officials, including FIFA’s David Borja and Denis Schaeffer, Technical Director of FC Metz, as well as top member associations such as French Football Federation which also described FAS as “one of Asia’s best football administrators”. Similarly, we are encouraged and yet humbled by Mr Tony Fernandes’ comments at a press conference last year. The Group CEO of AirAsia had cited the “passion shown by FAS” as the reason his airline decided to sponsor our national and youth teams.
However, we acknowledge that there remains much hard work ahead and we agree with these leading football officials who add that it is crucial for us to secure more financial resources so as to implement fully our footballing programmes and maximise the potential of our players.
Hence, we sincerely hope more corporations would answer the call by Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong to provide more funds to take sports and, in particular, Singapore football to a higher level.
Going forward, we will continue to work hard and strive to convince more corporations and CEOs of the value in football sponsorships, which is a key platform to enhance an organisation’s branding.”
