Premier League Asia Trophy

Editions

Year Host nation(s) Winner Runner-up
2003 Malaysia Chelsea Newcastle United
2005 Thailand Bolton Wanderers Thailand
2007 Hong Kong Portsmouth Liverpool
2009 China Tottenham Hotspur Hull City
2011 Hong Kong Chelsea Aston Villa
2013 Hong Kong Manchester City Sunderland
2015 Singapore Arsenal Everton
2017 Hong Kong Liverpool Leicester City
2019 China Wolverhampton Wanderers Manchester City

History

The Premier League Asia Trophy is a pre-season friendly tournament that is played in Asia in alternate years.
It is the only Premier League affiliated competition to be held outside of England and Wales.
It was first held in 2003 due to the increasing popularity of the Premier League in the continent, and is held biennially so that it does not clash with the World Cup and European Championships.
The inaugural contest was held at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Chelsea became the first winners after a penalty shoot-out Final victory against Newcastle United to clinch their first silverware under the ownership Roman Abramovich. Birmingham City and Malaysia also competed.
The event involves a knock-out format with the winners of the first games advancing to the final and the losers contest the third place play-off.
Usually, three Premier League clubs contest the tournament along with a local side from the host country.
For the first time in 2017, four Premier League clubs took part after Shanghai SIPG withdrew.
Speaking prior to the 2015 edition in Singapore, Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore said: "Asia is where the Premier League's biggest audience is. This tournament has been a great way for the league and the clubs to reach out to the Asian support base. I am delighted that it has continued to receive a positive response.
"The Premier League has recently established official relationships with the Indian Super League and the Chinese Super League and we've had a long-standing support base in Southeast Asia as well.
"We are the number one league in the region and are proud of that. We will continue to ensure that we reach out to the followers in Asia through multiple ways of which the Asia Trophy is an important element.
"I have been in football long enough to know that such agreements need not always work. However, here we have a case of a relationship that has worked very well and with which both entities are happy about."
Due to the perceived success of the Asia Trophy, the Premier League has considered establishing similar competitions in other continents to broaden the global presence. Africa and the United States have been said to be likely locations for such future tournaments.