IMG and FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026™ Announce Strategic Partnership to Expand Regional Football

Global sports marketing giant IMG has entered into a partnership with the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 to drive the launch and international scaling of the region’s inaugural men’s football tournament.

Scheduled to take place from 24 September to 5 October 2026 across Bandung and Jakarta in Indonesia, alongside Hong Kong, the fourteen-team competition brings together all eleven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations alongside three international guest sides.

Under the terms of the agreement, IMG will spearhead worldwide commercialisation, manage global media and sponsorship rights sales, and oversee broadcast production to maximise financial return and international visibility for the new sporting property.

Commenting on the partnership, SVP and managing director of Football at IMG, Adolfo Bara, said: “The FIFA ASEAN Cup is built around the rivalries that matter most to Southeast Asian fans and teams.”

“By creating a dedicated platform for neighbouring nations and their leading players to compete, the tournament will unlock new opportunities for the game across Southeast Asia.

“We are excited to work with the tournament and its stakeholders to build a high-quality, commercially sustainable competition that can become a regular fixture on the international football calendar,” Bara said.

Through that ongoing advisory framework, IMG has worked extensively on domestic calendar restructuring, commercial rights strategy formulation, production standardisation, and digital transformation initiatives designed to unlock long-term commercial value for Indonesian football stakeholders.

By integrating the inaugural tournament into its broader global advisory network, which spans properties such as CONMEBOL, Major League Soccer, the Premier League, and the Asian Football Confederation, IMG aims to anchor the competition as a permanent fixture on the international sporting calendar.

The agreement significantly expands IMG’s footprint in Southeast Asia, building directly upon its existing multi-faceted strategic partnership established in 2025 with PT Garuda Sepak Bola Indonesia on behalf of the Football Association of Indonesia.

The tournament structure is engineered to capitalise on passionate regional rivalries while providing elite competitive exposure for developing national federations.

With TKO Group Holdings subsidiary IMG deploying its extensive distribution capabilities and corporate network, the commercialisation strategy is expected to attract tier-one global sponsors and media broadcasters.

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