Top 10 Sports Marketing Agencies in Asia-Pacific 2026
CMOs need verified APAC sports marketing partners. Our ranked guide covers 10 agencies with confirmed regional footprint, active rights portfolios, and proven execution across Southeast Asian footb...
The 10 Best Sports Marketing Agencies in Asia-Pacific 2026
Finding the right sports marketing agency in Asia-Pacific is genuinely complicated. The region spans dozens of languages, multiple football federations, cricket boards, and motorsport calendars. No single agency dominates every market.
This guide is for CMOs, brand strategists, and marketing directors evaluating which agency can actually execute sports sponsorship deals across APAC in 2026. Each profile below is built from verified credentials only. Where data was unavailable, we left it out.
Agencies were selected based on confirmed APAC footprint, verifiable client relationships, active rights portfolios, and recent strategic moves that signal genuine regional investment.
SPORTFIVE
SPORTFIVE is the dominant football rights agency in Southeast Asia, and its recent moves make that position even stronger. The agency holds exclusive commercial and media rights for the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) through 2032, covering the men's, women's, and Under-23 national team championships, plus the Shopee Cup club competition. These four properties are packaged under the ASEAN United FC platform, a unified commercial vehicle that mirrors how European agencies bundle UEFA competitions.
Key Details:
- HQ: Global, with Asia-Pacific division led by Seamus O'Brien
- Specialization: Football rights sales, sponsorship management, digital media distribution
- Notable Clients/Partners: Shopee (title sponsor, Shopee Cup), Hyundai Motor (ASEAN Hyundai Cup), Mitsubishi Electric, Yanmar
- Additional Rights: Exclusive ITF Davis Cup and BJK Cup distribution across APAC and CIS (excluding China and Australia); FIBA 3x3 content via Mediapro Asia partnership
For brands seeking a single entry point into Southeast Asian football at scale, SPORTFIVE's consolidated inventory is the most structured option in the market today.
Read more about SPORTFIVE's AFF partnership
IMG
IMG is one of the few agencies operating genuine multi-sport, multi-market infrastructure across APAC. Following its dual leadership hires in 2025 (Carlo Nohra as VP Football in Singapore and Phil Mooney as VP Strategy in Melbourne), the agency now consults across 15 APAC markets. Its rights portfolio connects brands to domestic competitions and inbound global investment simultaneously.
Key Details:
- Location: Singapore and Melbourne (APAC hubs), global network
- Specialization: Sports consulting, media rights, commercial partnerships
- Notable Clients/Rights: Premier League, Football Australia, NRL, Saudi Pro League
- APAC Reach: 15 markets
IMG's combination of domestic Australian sport relationships and global football rights makes it particularly relevant for brands trying to connect APAC audiences to international properties.
Octagon
Octagon is a full-service sports and entertainment agency with a dedicated Asia-Pacific structure covering six countries. The 2025 promotion of Joanne Warnes to APAC Managing Director signals a deliberate leadership investment, not just a regional office. The agency handles athlete representation, brand partnerships, sponsorship consulting, and content production across cricket, football, golf, and rugby.
Key Details:
- Location: Six-country APAC footprint, global HQ in the US
- Specialization: Athlete representation, brand partnerships, content production, sponsorship consulting
- Notable Clients: Standard Chartered (APAC-relevant), Mastercard, BMW Championship, TCS
- Sports Covered: Cricket, football, golf, rugby
Octagon is a strong fit for multinational brands that need a single agency relationship to manage athlete and sponsorship strategy across multiple APAC markets simultaneously.
Football Marketing Asia (FMA)
Football Marketing Asia is a Hong Kong-based boutique with a very specific and valuable credential: it serves as the exclusive commercial partner of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). For brands seeking pan-Asian football sponsorship access, FMA is a direct gateway to the most significant continental football body in the region.
Key Details:
- Location: Hong Kong
- Specialization: Pan-Asian football sponsorship, commercial rights
- Notable Clients: Continental AG, Credit Saison, Saudi Neom
- Rights Relationship: Exclusive AFC commercial partner
FMA's AFC exclusivity makes it one of the most direct routes for brands that want access to Asian football's governing body without navigating a large network agency structure.
Zeus Sports Marketing
Founded in 2015 and Singapore-based, Zeus Sports Marketing positions itself as a data-informed boutique with capabilities that go beyond traditional agency work. It distributes rights for seven football leagues, covers more than 2,000 matches per year through data and betting rights partnerships, and has advised the Asian Tour on commercial relationships including Rolex and Habitat for Humanity.
Key Details:
- Founded: 2015
- Location: Singapore
- Specialization: Football rights distribution, data/betting rights, M&A advisory
- Notable Partnerships: Dentsu, Telia; Asian Tour (Rolex partnership advisory)
- Rights Portfolio: Seven football leagues, 2,000+ matches per year
Zeus is an unusual option for brands that want data-driven rights strategy alongside traditional sponsorship consulting, particularly in football.
Yello Marketing
Yello Marketing was founded in Hong Kong in 2008 and has since expanded to Singapore and Shanghai, giving it a genuine three-city Greater China and Southeast Asia footprint. The agency handles athlete management, sponsorship arrangements, event management, and digital marketing for premium brand clients.
Key Details:
- Founded: 2008 (Hong Kong); expanded to Singapore and Shanghai in 2015
- Location: Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai
- Specialization: Athlete management, event management, sponsorship, digital marketing
- Notable Clients: Nike, Coca-Cola, Bloomberg, BMW
- Managed Events: Hong Kong Tennis Open, Nike Women's 10K
Yello's 17-year track record and three-city presence make it one of the most established boutiques for brands seeking integrated event and athlete management across Greater China and Southeast Asia.
ActionHouse International
ActionHouse International was founded in 2005 and is led by Vivian Lee, an Asian Games medalist. The agency focuses on athlete representation, PR, and media relations, with a client list that sits at the intersection of premium sport and financial or luxury brand sponsorship.
Key Details:
- Founded: 2005 (20 years of operations)
- Location: Hong Kong
- Specialization: Athlete representation, event PR, media relations
- Notable Clients: Hong Kong Jockey Club, Audi, Swire, CitiBank
- Managed Events: Formula E Hong Kong, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon
For premium brands seeking curated athlete relationships and event PR in Hong Kong and Greater China, ActionHouse's two-decade track record and motorsport event credentials are a meaningful differentiator.
Sporting Republic
Sporting Republic is a Hong Kong-based boutique specializing in event management, PR, and media production, with a particular focus on running and endurance sport. It occupies a niche that larger agencies rarely serve well: experiential activations for endurance and vertical sport events in Greater China and Southeast Asia.
Key Details:
- Location: Hong Kong
- Specialization: Event management, PR, media production, running/endurance sport
- Notable Clients: Under Armour, Asics
- Managed Events: SHKP Vertical Run, Hanoi Half Marathon
Sporting Republic is a practical choice for sports brands and activewear companies seeking credible event activation in the endurance sport category across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
Sportsbridge Asia
Sportsbridge Asia is one of the few confirmed agencies in the region that handles both cricket and football sponsorship simultaneously, covering markets across Asia and Africa. This dual-sport capability is relatively rare and relevant as brands look to connect cricket audiences in South Asia with football audiences in Southeast Asia through a single agency relationship.
Key Details:
- Location: Asia (regional)
- Specialization: Sponsorship design and negotiation across football and cricket
- Coverage: Asia and Africa
- Differentiator: Confirmed multi-sport (cricket + football) sponsorship capability
For brands operating across South Asia and Southeast Asia who want to consolidate cricket and football sponsorship through one partner, Sportsbridge Asia's cross-sport mandate is worth evaluating.
Two Circles
Two Circles is a data-driven sports agency with a confirmed partnership with Cricket Australia, focused on commercial strategy and sponsorship amplification. It is the only agency in this list with a verified direct relationship with an APAC cricket governing body, making it relevant context for brands evaluating cricket as a sponsorship platform in Australia and the broader region.
Key Details:
- Location: Global, with confirmed APAC cricket relationship
- Specialization: Data-driven commercial strategy, sponsorship amplification
- Notable Partnership: Cricket Australia (commercial strategy)
- Differentiator: Governing body relationship in APAC cricket
Two Circles suits brands that want commercial strategy grounded in audience data, particularly within cricket, where understanding fan behavior is critical to building a sponsorship case.
How to Choose: Network Agency or Boutique?
The most useful frame for evaluating these agencies is geography and scale, not reputation alone.
Singapore is consolidating as the hub for network agencies and rights distribution. IMG, Zeus Sports Marketing, and Yello's Singapore office all operate from the city-state, making it the natural base for brands seeking multi-market scale or data-driven rights access.
Hong Kong remains the boutique agency capital of the region. ActionHouse International, Yello Marketing, Sporting Republic, Football Marketing Asia, and others are all headquartered there, serving premium brands that want curated athlete relationships and event activations rather than mass-market rights packages.
For Southeast Asian football specifically, SPORTFIVE's ASEAN United FC platform now offers a consolidated entry point that did not exist five years ago. For pan-Asian football at the confederation level, Football Marketing Asia's AFC exclusivity is the most direct route. For brands that need multi-sport, multi-market scale across 10 or more APAC countries, IMG and Octagon are the two agencies with the infrastructure to deliver it.
The right choice depends on whether your brand needs scale, local depth, or a specific rights relationship. This list gives you the verified starting points to make that call.
Have you worked with any of these agencies? Share your experience with your network or reach out to discuss which model fits your APAC sports strategy.
Want to stay up-to-date on the stories shaping Asia's media, marketing, and comms industry? Subscribe to Mission Media for exclusive insights, campaign deep-dives, and actionable intel.
