SINGAPORE – Football fans in Singapore will have a new place to hang out next year, after it was announced on Wednesday (Oct 26) that a new football-themed cafe will be opened in the Republic in the first quarter of next year as part of a business venture between real-estate firm Rowsley Limited and former Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.

Named Cafe Football, it will mark the first time that the football-themed hospitality franchise, which also includes the Manchester-based Hotel Football just beside Old Trafford, will be set up outside of the United Kingdom.

Hotel Football and Cafe Football were initially set up by Singaporean businessman Peter Lim along with five of the Manchester United’s “Class of 92” cohort, which includes Giggs, the Neville brothers Gary and Philip, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

Rowsley however, acquired the majority share of both Hotel Football and Cafe Football, as well as hotel management company GG Collections, last year.

And the company on Wednesday outlined their intention to bring the franchise to continental Europe and Asia over the next decade. In particular, they have identified China and India as the main markets they will be looking to expand into.

“We’ve been approached quite a lot by partners to expand, and the first football-themed cafe in Asia will open in Singapore in 2017,” Neville, who played 602 games for the Red Devils, said at a media briefing in Rowsley’s Singapore office at Great World City on Wednesday.

“Knowing there’s quite a lot of excitement in the market, we’re filtering down to the best opportunities that support our brand and product.

“So far, we’ve had fantastic reviews in Manchester, with over 80 per cent occupancy rate even during non-match days. And now, we are looking for a UK, Europe and Asian expansion over the next 12 to 18 months to add multiple properties.”

Neville added that they hoped to build over 5,000 new rooms over the next 10 years. Some of the other Asian countries that they hope to expand to include Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, although some developments will house a hotel and cafe, while others will only be a cafe.

Reflecting on how they used their experience as professional footballers on how they approached the running of the franchise, Giggs said: “There are a lot of similarities (in the hospitality industry) to football.

“In football, we trained and prepared as best as we can to get into the first-team, and this is what we did when we embarked on our business ventures as well. We didn’t think of this overnight. We began planning all this over 10 years ago when we thought our playing careers were about to finish.

“And just like how as players we’re aiming to stay in the first-team, we also want the franchise to be consistently at the top. It’s now well-reviewed online, but we’re not going to settle for that, because we want to stay at the top.”

There are currently two Cafe Football outlets in the UK - one in Manchester and the other in London.

While details of Singapore’s Cafe Football were not revealed, a look at the UK chains will give football fans an idea of what they can expect when it is opened here. Designed to “capture the essence of football” in their cafe and menu, it is positioned as a place where diners can have a “fun, relaxed dining experience influenced by the spirit of the game”.

As an example of this, the cafes’ menus are segregated into “defence, midfield and attack”, with dishes named after common football phrases such as “The Special One”, “Mexican Wave” and “El Clasico”.

This is also not the first time that Lim has had a hand in a football-themed eatery in Singapore. Fashion brand distributor FJ Benjamin, of which Lim is a shareholder, co-owned the now-defunct Devil’s Bar, a Manchester United-themed sports pub which was at Orchard Parade Hotel.