La Liga announce new tournament in Asia to boost brand

Madrid: Spain`s La Liga revealed plans to host an annual pre-season tournament in Asia in a bid to boost their brand in a region dominated by the English Premier League.

The International LFP Cup will begin next year and feature three Spanish sides and one local team but the tournament, which will start in a south-east Asian country, will eventually move around the world. "With Spain emerging as champions of the 2010 World Cup, we felt this is the best time to introduce the International LFP Cup and share the beauty of Spanish football with the Asian market," Francisco Roca Perez, CEO of La Liga, said in a statement. Perez told reporters at the Soccerex Asian Forum in Singapore that details of the teams and host country for the first tournament will be named later this year.Bureau Report