Football: Geylang are City Football Group’s first Asean partner

SINGAPORE – Geylang International have become the first Singaporean football club to collaborate with the City Football Group (CFG), one of world football’s richest and most powerful organisations.

In December, The Straits Times reported that they were in talks over a tie-up which would make the Eagles the first South-east Asian team to be associated with CFG, which owns English Premier League champions Manchester City.

Football Association of Singapore vice-president and Geylang adviser Ben Teng, who was also the club’s chairman from 2015 to 2020, played a key role in securing the deal.

The businessman revealed talks first began in early 2019 but stalled when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Discussions resumed in 2022.

He added: “This agreement is set to be an initial, highly targeted collaboration between both entities with the potential to evolve into a broader, more comprehensive strategic partnership in the future.

“This unprecedented commitment in Geylang International will enable the club to start tapping into CFG’s football expertise, know-how, technology, and best practices, allowing the club to improve their structure and operations.

“Geylang have a dedicated group of volunteers who were key in negotiations with CFG... our collaboration will not only raise the professional standard of the club but also its commercial value.”

The Eagles are already benefiting from CFG’s network, with the recruitment of Japanese attacker Yushi Yamaya from J-League champions Yokohama F. Marinos, who are also part of the CFG family.

Yamaya was recommended to the Singapore Premier League (SPL) club after being scouted by CFG’s Group Football Operations department, following a detailed brief by Geylang’s coaching staff.

Geylang coach Noor Ali said: “We are delighted to welcome Yamaya to Geylang International. His arrival will surely add variety to our attack. He’s an exciting player, so I’m sure the fans will enjoy watching him in action.”

Yamaya, 22, added: “I’m very excited to join Geylang, a club with such an amazing history. This is my first time playing abroad, but I know I have what it takes to succeed and I’m looking forward to helping the Eagles to achieve their goals this season.”

CFG will also help develop Geylang’s technical and management expertise through practical learning experiences at clubs within CFG’s global network.

A brainchild of City’s chief executive officer Ferran Soriano, CFG was founded in 2013.

In 2019, it was valued at US$4.8 billion (S$6.51 billion), owning and running 11 football clubs globally.

Besides City, the other top-tier sides are New York City (United States), Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay), Melbourne City (Australia), Girona (Spain), Troyes AC (France) and second division clubs Lommel SK (Belgium) and Palermo (Italy).

In Asia, CFG has stakes in Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Sichuan Jiuniu (China) and Mumbai City (India). Similar to the Geylang arrangement, it has a partner club in Club Bolivar (Bolivia).

CFG is about to add another club to its portfolio with the impending takeover of Brazilian side EC Bahia in early 2023. The Salvador-based club has secured promotion to Brazil’s top-tier league.

Despite rumours of the SPL moving towards privatisation, CFG will not be taking over Geylang for now. The only private club in Singapore are the Lion City Sailors, owned by tech company Sea.

But the collaboration will still come as a boost for the Eagles, who open their SPL campaign against Tampines in the Eastern Derby at Our Tampines Hub on Feb 25.

After retaining the services of key players such as French playmaker Vincent Bezecourt and Japanese duo Rio Sakuma and Takahiro Tezuka, along with versatile Joshua Pereira, they will aim to improve on their fourth-place finish in 2022.

They are in Malaysia for a 13-day training camp that will see them play Penang, Selangor or Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah.

“After several weeks of training, it’s time to put the team to the test,” said Noor.

 “We could not ask for a better pre-season fixture and a shout-out to the management for lining up four high-quality friendly matches.

“The fact that we got invited to play against the top M-League sides speaks volumes about Geylang’s stature.”