Top British soccer team, Manchester United wants to be bigger and better in Asia and are particularly eyeing South Asia in this regard, its two top players,said. "Of the 333 million fans all over the world, 190 million are from Asia. We are keen on growing in Asia which is a reason to grow our market in South Asia," Bryan Robson, the longest serving Manchester United captain and a former captain of the English national football side told the Business Times in an interview on the sidelines of a promotional tour to Sri Lanka.
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| Bryson Robson (Left) and Dwight York during a visit to Excel World |
Together with another football legend, Dwight York, he was in the country on a Bharti Airtel promotional tour. Bharti Airtel, following a 5-year sponsorship deal with top British soccer club three years ago, along with Bharti's local partner Airtel Lanka, announced a deal with the British champion team at a mega launch on Thursday where Airtel customers across Sri Lanka will get exclusive access to exciting and rich Manchester United football content on their Airtel mobile phones.
In addition Airtel customers will also get an opportunity to watch football matches at Old Trafford and travel to Europe to watch Manchester United play the UEFA Champions League. Mr. Robson noted that Asia has a great passion for football. "We want to grab supporters from any part of the world and right now Asia is huge for us," he added.
He also said that Manchester United is scouting for players from all over the world and ‘we’ are trying to get players from Asia as well.
Mr. York, a Trinidad and Tobago international player who was instrumental in the famous Manchester United treble win in the 1998-99 season, in comments made to the Business Times said that the global game of football has moved on and it's refreshing to see Asia interested in it.
He said that it was amazing to see Bangladesh where they could see a great appetite for the game. "We finally realised that the appetite for football in Asia and it's refreshing to come to Sri Lanka and see the growing interest," he added.
The tie up with Airtel Lanka provides for a host of Manchester United Value Added Services (VAS) being added to the service. This includes Manchester United Ring Tones, Ringing Tones and other branded merchandise which can be used as customer promotions and so on, Bharat Bambawale, Director Global Brands Bharti Airtel said. He added that the company is happy with the progress Airtel has made in Sri Lanka.
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