Kuala Lumpur, 26 August 2022 – POCARI SWEAT, ION Supply drink brand from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., (Otsuka) Japan have now become Official Supporter of the prestigious bi-annual football tournament, the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

Facilitated by SPORTFIVE, AFF’s exclusive commercial rights partner, POCARI SWEAT has committed to two editions of the tournament (2022 and 2024) and can look forward to receiving unprecedented levels of exposure and engagement opportunities with football fans across the region as the event returns to a full home-and-away format this year.

Mikio Bando, Managing Director of Otsuka Emerging Countries and Otsuka International Asia-Arab (OIAA) Division said, “We are excited to embark on this journey with AFF as the Official ION Supply Drink of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for the next two editions. We see a lot of synergies between ourselves and AFF especially in terms of enhancing athletes’ performance through fulfilment of hydration needs. It also provides a perfect platform for POCARI SWEAT to deepen connection with the passionate fans through on-ground activations.”

Otsuka has been holding POCARI SWEAT’s running events and other programs for years with the aim of promoting sports and contributing to the health of citizens in Asia and Arab regions. “With the quality of football in South East Asia which improved tremendously and its popularity has increased remarkably, we hope that the competition will inspire fans to be more active, and for us as an organization, to provide healthy solutions to the communities through football-related activities which very much aligns with our corporate philosophy,” said Bando.

Malcolm Thorpe, Managing Director of SPORTFIVE said, “As we herald in a new era for ASEAN football with the newly named AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, we are delighted to have POCARI SWEAT join our family of AFF partners. To have them commit to two editions speaks volume about the popularity of the tournament and how strongly the event is able to connect brands with fans.”

Taking place from December 2022, ASEAN’s biggest and most prestigious football competition, the renamed AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 will enter its 14th edition this year and see the 10 qualified teams compete in a full home and away format.