French football giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) are looking forward to establish a football academy in Malaysia.

Having established training centres in 12 countries with more than 12,000 children being taught the same values and philosophy as the parent academy in Paris, Malaysia could be the latest inclusion in the list, following the launch of PSG’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore last Thursday.

Besides France, the seven-time Ligue 1 champions have their youth development programme in Canada, the United States, Brazil, England, Portugal, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

Sebastien Wasels, PSG’s Asia Pacific Managing Director, said the idea of the academy is among the approaches planned to penetrate the Malaysian market and fan base, which is largely dominated by the English Premier League.

"We are in the midst of identifying local partners, brands and sponsors in Malaysia to activate PSG’s movements. It is still very early, we have just launched our first office out of Europe here, and we will kick start our movements.

"The academy could be one of the options as we integrate our academies globally with the shared coaching techniques. e-Sports would be another way to gain the interest of young Malaysians," he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama and New Straits Times Press (NSTP).

"We are planning to take different tailor-made approaches based on the diversity of the audience in the region. For example, judo for Japan, esports for youths, arts and culture [for fashion enthusiasts], while focusing on football as our core. PSG are more than a football club," he added.

Wasels said the launch of PSG’s first ever office out of Europe is important to further increase their fan base in Asia.

Their international fan base is now the seventh largest with over 55 million globally, with 17 million in Asia.

Wasels believes the Paris-based club have a huge potential to grow in the region, where the Asian market has only recorded less than 20 percent of the club’s overall sales.

Meanwhile, Gerald Heng, PSG’s Head of South East Asia and Oceania, said esports is the club’s important strategy to increase its global popularity.

"PSG is among the first teams in the world to go into esports. We have a professional Dota 2 team based in China and we have two former FIFA world champions. Esports would help us to touch with very young, dynamic and engaged audience.

"PSG also have a judo team, a handball team, and a lifestyle team that help us to collaborate with big brands. My goal is to have a whole calendar of activities from January to December, with a mix of youth academies, partners programmes, viewing parties…It is going to take some time," he said.

The launch of the new office, which coincided with PSG’s Asia Tour for the International Champions Cup (ICC) in Singapore.

In conjunction with their Asian Tour, a number of events were organised by PSG throughout the week, including the inaugural Esports Challenge 2018 on Sunday and the launch of special sneakers through a collaboration with Singapore’s famous streetwear artist, Mark Ong.

"I am not a football fan but have a huge respect for PSG because they are a very fashionable brand.

"I have designed sneakers with my signature camouflage style using PSG’s significant red and blue colours. Each of the 75 pairs of hand painted shoes has a little bit of uniqueness," the Singapore Tourism Board’s Passion Ambassador said when met at the Dover Street Market.