Manchester United has signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Malaysia’s leading telecommunications provider - Telekom Malaysia. The partnership will bring online content to MU supporters and TM customers, as well as giving fans the chance to win trips to Old Trafford to watch the team play.
This deal will make Telekom Malaysia the "Integrated Telecommunications Partner" of Manchester United in Malaysia. This communications group was an official partner for United's tour of Asia in 2009. Through this deal, United would look to tap in to Far East market where they have a huge fan following.
Man United has a large fan base in the East Asian country. It was probably the David Beckham era that raised the popularity of the club in Asian countries like Japan, Malaysia and Korea. This recent long term deal would help raise its profile further.
United's CEO David Gill was delighted about a five-year deal. He said,
Anyone who went on our tour of the Far East last summer knows the strength of feeling that Malaysians have for the club. Over 40,000 attended our training session and another 40,000 came to the second match in Kuala Lumpur, despite only having 48 hours' notice of the fixture.
The press launch for the partnership was attended by David Gill, Sir Alex Ferguson and players Wes Brown, Jonny Evans and John O'Shea.
Sir Alex commented,
The size of our fan base in Malaysia, and the affection they have for our club, is phenomenal. The statistic that almost 25 per cent of the Malaysian population support Manchester United is staggering, quite incredible.
I know this will be a fantastic partnership because we share the same ambition, to be the best at what we do. We’re always striving to do that here at United. We’re very much alike in that respect.
