Season › 2014-15 › News Everton announce Asia Trophy dates , 12 May, 14comments | Jump to most recent Everton's first match in the Asia Trophy, a pre-season tournament to be held in Singapore in mid-July, has been confirmed, with Stoke City their first opponents on Thursday the 16th. The game will kick off at 6pm local time (11am UK in the UK) while Arsenal will play a Select XI from Singapore. The winners of each match will meet to play in the final on Saturday 18 July with the losers playing for 3rd place. All the matches will take place at the National Stadium in Singapore and tickets are on sale from Wednesday and a link for UK fans to purchase will be available via evertonfc.com early on Wednesday. At that point, fans in Singapore can buy via sportshubtix.sg. Reader Comments (14) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer John Zapa 1 Posted 12/05/2015 at 07:44:07 Hopefully this pre-season will be better planned than the last, but regardless I expect the coaching to continue to the same low standards. Ross Edwards 2 Posted 12/05/2015 at 08:45:16 If we qualify for the Europa League via Fair Play, wed have to cancel this tour. The first leg of the second qualifying round is on 16th July. Colin Glassar 3 Posted 12/05/2015 at 09:53:36 This might allow us to raise our profile in the lucrative Asian markets but you just know we wont take advantage of this opportunity. I hope the pitches arent sticky... Eric Myles 4 Posted 12/05/2015 at 13:52:35 Unfortunately will be making a rare visit to Liverpool at that time, bad planning in my part. Eric Myles 5 Posted 13/05/2015 at 01:41:17 Would be a good opportunity to take some of the new season's kits along for sale as well as some other merchandise but I doubt they will.Last July, when they came to Bangkok, they only had the new shirts for VIPs and there was absolutely no Everton merchandise to be had anywhere. Leung Chi Ho 6 Posted 13/05/2015 at 05:20:04 Whos in?Hope to see you guys in Singapore!!I just wonder what if we need to play the qualifying round of the Europa League... Eugene Ruane 7 Posted 13/05/2015 at 05:54:34 John Zapa - "Hopefully this pre-season will be better planned than the last"The fact that its in Singapore says to me its not well-planned at all.Sorry but I have no idea why Singapore/Bangkok etc are thought to be beneficial locations for pre-season for any British team.Firstly, youre talking about a long flight to get out there.Secondly...well for those who havent been to Singapore, next time youre taking a Frey Bentos pie out of the oven, shove your face in for a few seconds and youll get the idea.Basically, if youre not standing directly under an air-conditioning vent, the sweat is pissing out of you.We dont play our football in this climate, so why do any pre-season there?I can still remember Kilbanes performance at left back in Thailand - running round like a fucking lunatic, losing pints of water (I remember being genuinely concerned for him).Imo, we should always play our pre-season in Europe (not too far away either).Oh and I dont buy into well Singapore is a good business opportunity (specially given the ineptitude of our hopeless marketing experts).From a business perspective, selling 17 extra shirts in Thailand didnt change much and neither will this trip. Matt Traynor 8 Posted 13/05/2015 at 06:38:19 Colin #3, Im waiting for someone to claim the Asian markets are not lucrative, as the shirt sales are negligible (they would be for us anyway thanks to our distribution agreement) and theres fakes everywhere, and theyd be right.Where the Asia market is lucrative is in commercial sponsorship opportunities. Obviously we have the deal with Thai Bev, and previously had Keijan, but there are lots of companies there who are desperate to break into the sports sponsorship market. If you ever watch a live game, or highlights on MOTD etc., note how much of the perimeter advertising is in a foreign language, or is dual language.At one stage Vietnam was threatening to block broadcasts due to the amount of Asian internet gambling sites being advertised.Man U has tier 3 and 4 sponsors ranging from watch manufacturers to paint producers - none of which you or I would have heard of, but its not important as the UK isnt their market. They are paying for the right to include the association on their marketing campaigns.Asia is full of marketing agents who will offer to hawk your brand around for the usual 10%. Less if you give them exclusivity. Most of them arent worth bothering with but there are reputable agencies out there who would do an excellent job of promoting the Everton brand on a commission-only basis (i.e. no up front opex commitment from the club) but they just dont seem to be interested.Pre 1992 it was a sport, its now a global business with brand equity an important part of it. The likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd have representative offices in Asia to advance their commercial reach. Weve never even tried. Were small time, and well stay small time with this lot in charge. Phil Walling 9 Posted 13/05/2015 at 08:26:54 But surely, Eugene, the Everton team will feel at home as the climate dictates (for all but Kilbane!) that the football is played at walking pace. Our lads are well trained in this discipline and should be favourites to win the trophy! Spragg Johnson 10 Posted 13/05/2015 at 11:15:05 There have been rumours that the team might head back to the UK via New Zealand. Any truth to these? As a Kiwi Toffee (who saw them play here in 1987 as Champions) Id be pretty keen to see them back! My two sons ... Whose middle names are Everton and William Ralph would think all of their Christmases had come at once! Varun Rajwade 11 Posted 13/05/2015 at 13:10:31 Yay, I will finally get to see my favorite Blues in person.. Hope to meet other (are there any) Singaporean fans :) Christopher Kelly 13 Posted 14/05/2015 at 11:18:43 Fucking brilliant Eugene!!! Have me crying into my phone practically, maybe cuz in still buzzed from last nights champions league game. We go to Asia just to get our new shirts nicked for the fraudsters!! Only Everton! Skip the EL please, we dont need 40 extra matches in a place you have to spin a globe half-way round. No Asia either until we actually have a marketing team that doesnt forget the suitcase of jerseys were going to sell outside the park. Just have those bitches run and run and run some more at home so we dont look like a beer league outfit come august Dave Abrahams 14 Posted 14/05/2015 at 11:38:41 Eugene, I remember all Kilbanes matches for Everton, have nightmares trying to forget them. Christopher Kelly 15 Posted 14/05/2015 at 12:04:59 I poured out a Tiger beer for all the homies we lost in Singapore. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads © ToffeeWeb