Man City opened an office in Singapore this week "with the super rich Premier League outfit insistent" it was in the wealthy city-state to help Southeast Asian football thrive rather than just make profit, according to Patrick Johnston of REUTERS. The four-time English champion joined Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, La Liga side Valencia and Chelsea in having an office in Singapore, "a commercial hub replete with the world's biggest brands and with a public obsessed with all things European football." But such enthusiasm "has come at the expense of the local game, where attendances in the local S.League continue to nosedive amid talk the poorly marketed 10-team competition could be disbanded." Officials of the City Football Group said that they "wanted to share knowledge with domestic stakeholders rather than crush competition." City Football Commercial Dir of Marketing Omar Berrada said, "We feel responsibility to give back to the community. Manchester City was founded as a community club and we have that at the heart of everything we do." City Group Marketing & Communications Head Toby Craig said that 97% of Man City fans lived outside of the U.K., with 80 million in Southeast Asia, "a region clearly of importance to them and others" (REUTERS, 10/28). GOAL reported CFG formally launched City Football Singapore. Forming part of City Football Marketing, the commercial arm of the group, CFS will be led by Dir Damian Willoughby, reporting to Berrada. CFS, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CFG, "will oversee the group’s commercial operations in Southeast Asia." It will work closely with a number of Man City’s global and regional partners, "including Singha, Nexen Tire, QNET, SHB and Jiwasraya." CFG, which has now begun operations, is the global football organization whose family of clubs and football-related businesses includes Man City, Major League Soccer side NYCFC, A-League side Melbourne City and J.League side Yokohama F. Marinos (GOAL, 10/27).
