Spanish La Liga outfit Valencia has opened its first overseas office, and its Asian headquarters will be located in Singapore, the club announced yesterday.
The new office will be in Great World City and follows the appointment of Englishman Peter Draper as Valencia's new commercial and marketing director.
Other clubs that have offices in Singapore include German giants Borussia Dortmund, English Premier League defending champions Chelsea and Liverpool.
Valencia, which is owned by Singaporean businessman Peter Lim, appointed another Singaporean Chan Lay Hoon as its executive president last month.
The club finished fourth in the Spanish league last season and will enter the Uefa Champions League play-off round.
Mr Draper told The Straits Times: "The fans in Asia, especially Singapore, love football and with our owner being a Singaporean, common sense was to set up the office here."
"Last season was great for the club under the new Asian ownership, and it is fair to say we got a lot of attention from around the world so we want to build on that and expand further."
Mr Draper brings a wealth of experience to his new role, having been a senior leader at many top sports brands, including Manchester United's group marketing director and European marketing director for Umbro Sportswear.
He also confirmed that Valencia are looking to play a match in Singapore next year, as part of their pre-season preparations, but added that talks are still in progress.
Nicknamed Los Che, Valencia is one of Spain's most successful clubs. It has won six league titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, one Uefa Cup, one Cup Winners' Cup and two Uefa Super Cups.
drajac@sph.com.sg
Get MyPaper for more stories.