Indian sports investors take on minority stakes in popular Cambodian top flight club

AN INDIAN SPORTING ORGANIZATION has acquired minority stakes at a Cambodian top flight club in a first move of its kind.

SkaSports Investment Private Limited announced the deal today at an event in Siem Reap. The club they have acquired is called Angkor Tiger FC.

Rohit Ramesh, former owner of Chennai City FC, is a director at SkaSports. Speaking to TFG, he explained the move,

"Angkor Tiger is the only club in top division of the Cambodia premier league in Siem Reap. It’s a unique investment for us and with the network, we can foresee good growth."

Siem Reap is a promising location due to being the home of the world famous Angkor Wat temple complex. The city has already experienced a high amount of cooperation with Indians, due to the Archeological Survey of India conducting extensive work to restore some of the ancient temples. The temples were built as a tribute to Vishnu, the god worshipped by the kings of the Khmer empire. It is also home to several Buddha statues constructed later. 

With the club named after the historic site which already has a spiritual connection to India, it's expected that Angkor Tiger may develop an international fanbase and benefit from the high volume of tourism the region experiences.

The CEO of Cambodian Premier League Satoshi Saito welcomed the deal in a press statement, saying,

"Firstly my Congratulations to both Angkor Tiger FC and SkaSports Investments FC, we are grateful to have an investment from an Indian company. When the new professional Cambodian football league was established in March 2021, we tried to raise the value and aimed at bringing in interest from investors not only domestically but also internationally. As the new season has just started, the average spectators number per match has doubled and the viewership on TV and Facebook has more than tripled. On behalf of the CPL and Cambodian football community, we would like to welcome SkaSports and appreciate Angkor Tiger’s positive attitude and ambition to work for the development of Cambodian football towards the future.”

The home ground of Angkor Tiger FC, an 8 year old club, is called the Hanuman Stadium and in 2018 it won the award for being the most popular club in Cambodia.

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