Ben Wells of Chelsea Club

KUALA LUMPUR: Ben Wells, Chelsea FC’s Head of Sponsorship, believes that the English Premier League club can offer immense value for AFC’s Vision Asia projects in China and India.

Speaking to www.the-afc.com, Wells emphasised on the benefits of mutual cooperation on the ground level, especially in China where AFC is running five development projects in the cities of Qingdao, Wuhan, Nanjing, Chengdu and Zibo.

“Chelsea FC has now done a couple of events with AFC in China and we are encouraged by the response,” said Wells.

“Now we are laying the framework and trying to find out how we can offer more value to AFC’s Vision Asia. Chelsea FC are now holding workshops for the clubs under the Vision Asia umbrella where relationship with the community, media, and other entities is explained.”

Wells said he was hoping to replicate the same partnership and development model in India where Chelsea FC has held preliminary  discussions with the All India Football Federation. “Though our talks with India are at preliminary stage, there is no reason to see why we cannot do the same thing (as in China) there.”

Wells was part of a high-level Chelsea team led by their CEO Peter Kenyon who held extensive discussions with AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam on extending their Vision Asia partnership to India.