English Premier League football club West Bromwich Albion has partnered with foreign exchange trading company IGOFX in a deal that will run through to the end of the 2017-18 season.
IGOFX will benefit from club IP rights, hospitality and also player access for the company’s promotional activity through the partnership, which was brokered by sports agency SportQuake.
The Asian Forex company operates in the trading of currencies globally and will become the official Forex partner of West Brom in Asia.
The Premier League was the most viewed league across Asia last season, with an audience of over 800 million. It also boasted a strong social media presence, with more than 54 per cent of Premier League clubs’ social followers coming from Asia.
After becoming the first European football club to tour China in 1978, West Brom also hosted China’s first ever game in the United Kingdom at The Hawthorns in 1979.
The takeover of West Brom by Chinese group Yuni Guokai (Shanghai) Sports was formally approved in September. Yuni Guokai, which is owned by entrepreneur Guochuan Lai, completed its acquisition of West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited, which had owned approximately 88 per cent of the club’s parent entity.
The agreement made West Brom the first Premier League club to be controlled by an owner from mainland China.