About ING's sponsorship

The ING Cup is hosted by the Hong Kong Football Association and organised by the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) marketing partner World Sport Group (WSG).

The tournament consists of two matches on 30 July 2008 followed by a further two games on 2 August 2008, with all matches being played at the Hong Kong Stadium. The play will be between the Olympic teams of the Netherlands, Cameroon, U.S.A and Ivory Coast and who will all head to Hong Kong in late July to compete for the ING Cup as part of their teams' final preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

ING, the global financial group and title sponsor of tournament, expects the ING Cup to attract large crowds as sports fans in Hong Kong look forward to the games in China.

The ING-WSG partnership started in 2005 with ING's agreement to sponsor the AFC Champions League, which is marketed and promoted by WSG. The tournament sees the 28 top clubs from fourteen Asian nations, along with the defending champions, compete.

In 2007, ING extended its cooperation with WSG, signing up to be an official sponsor of the AFC Asian Cup 2007. This tournament was held across four markets, and the sports popularity ensured the games reached an audience of 700+ million across the region, providing ING with a pan regional platform to build brand awareness and offer up opportunities for the marketing of our products and services across banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services.

With the growth in the sport set to continue apace as more Asian stars shine both in Europe and at home, ING has agreed to continue the sponsorship until 2012.

This latest sponsorship agreement is an overarching agreement to sponsor regional football across a series of tournaments including the Asian qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Olympic Games, and , the 2011 Asian Cup. It also includes the sponsorship of two ASEAN football federation tournaments-previously known as the Tiger Cup-and which is South East Asia's most popular sports tournament.