The FA Premier League Asia Cup, as it was originally known, was first organised in March 2003 by
ESPN STAR Sports and formally announced by the league's chairman,
Dave Richards. It was established as a result of "the increasing popularity of the Premier League in the continent". With the contest scheduled to take place three weeks before the start of the
league season, it is intended to serve as the last warm-up event for participating teams before they embark on competitive football. with Chelsea, Newcastle,
Birmingham City, and
Malaysia taking part. The final saw 47,500 people filling the
Bukit Jalil National Stadium in
Kuala Lumpur. Chelsea won the first tournament, edging Newcastle 5–4 in a
penalty shootout that went to
sudden death after a goalless
draw at full time. It was the first event to feature
Barclays as the
title sponsor. The title match was an
upset in which Portsmouth held
Liverpool to a goalless draw, before their goalkeeper
David James saved two spot kicks in the ensuing penalty shootout that ended 4–2 in Portsmouth's favour. Despite the fact that the Premier League Asia Trophy was sold out for the first time in its history, the right to host the
2009 competition was awarded to
Beijing. The attendance for that contest, however, was underwhelming, with only 10,000 people present for the final at the 66,000-capacity
Workers' Stadium, where Tottenham Hotspur beat
Hull City 3–0 thanks to a
brace from
Robbie Keane. and regained the trophy by triumphing 2–0 against
Aston Villa before a capacity crowd at the
Hong Kong Stadium. The quality of the pitch was universally lambasted, especially after several players were consequently injured while playing on it. The
2015 edition was hosted by
Singapore to honour the city-state's 50th anniversary of
independence from Malaysia. Arsenal claimed their first Premier League Asia Trophy, routing the
host country's Select XI side 4–0 behind a
Chuba Akpom hat-trick, before defeating Everton 3–1 in the final. The event saw tournament attendance records broken for most people at a single match day (52,107) and the largest cumulative attendance across the two days (just short of 82,000). The
2017 event featured
Liverpool,
Leicester City,
West Bromwich Albion, and
Crystal Palace. ==Tournaments==