No amount of rain was going to stop these honors from being handed out. With Typhoon Tisoy raging outside, SPIA Asia – Asia’s Sports Industry Awards & Conference, held its fifth edition at the Grand Hyatt Manila in Bonifacio Global City Philippines on December 2 and 3, 2019. After two days of panels, case studies, and interviews on the business of sports, the business of football in Asia, sports and new technology, sports and tourism, and integrity and inclusion, the SPIA Asia Awards were also handed out, recognizing and celebrating sporting excellence of the industry,

For hosting the 30th edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) was awarded a special Excellence Award by SPIA. PHISGOC Chairman and Philippine House of Representatives Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano received the honor from SPIA Chief Executive Officer Eric Gottschalk.


Football legend Ronaldo Nazario de Lima, more popularly known simply as Ronaldo, was awarded the Sport and Beyond Award, an honor celebrating both his career as a legendary footballer as well as his accomplishments beyond the football pitch. The three-time FIFA Footballer of the Year, two-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, and three-time winner of the FIFA World Cup was a goal-scoring machine for Brazil on the international stage and for club teams like FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid CF, A.C. Milan, and Corinthians. Following his retirement from competition, “El Fenomeno” became the majority owner of Real Valladolid in 2018 and hopes to bring the club to new heights.

The Best Asian Sports Team honor was handed to the Japanese Rugby Team who shocked the world at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, where they served as hosts. After winning the Pacific Nations Cup earlier in the year, Japan was grouped with Russia, Ireland, Samoa, and Scotland. The Brave Blossoms’ 28-21 win over Scotland made them the first Asian team to top their group at the Rugby World Cup and the first Asian team to make it to the knockout stage.

Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka was named Best Asian Sportswoman of the Year. After being named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2016, Osaka famously defeated Serena Williams in the final of the 2018 US Open to become the first Japanese Grand Slam singles champion. She followed that up by defeating Petra Kvitova to win the 2019 Australian Open and became the first Asian player to be ranked first in the world in singles. Only 22-years-old, many believe that the best is yet to come for Osaka.

As if he doesn’t have enough accolades already, the only eight-division boxing champion in history, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, was awarded the Best Asian Sportsman of the Year. Pacquiao started the year by retaining the WBA (Regular) welterweight title via a 12-round unanimous decision over Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Seven months later at the same venue, “the Pac-Man” won the WBA (Super) welterweight championship via a 12-round split decision over Keith Thurman.

Other notable winners at the SPIA Awards included The Chongqing Major as Best eSports Event of the Year in Asia, Shopee and Cristiano Ronaldo from SportQuake as Best Brand Activation of the Year, Atrium Sports – Kilsyth Basketball Connected Stadium from Atrium Sports with the Best Use of Technology in Sports, the Rugby World Cup in Japan from World Rugby/Rugby World Cup Limited won both Best International Sporting Event of the Year and Best Sports Digital Platform of the Year, while the WTA Finals 2018 from Lagardere Sports of Singapore was named Best Integrated Marketing Campaign of the Year.

The Best Mass Participation Event in the Philippines was given to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority for the National Milo Marathon while Honda Philippines won Best Sponsorship of Sport, Team, Individual, Venue, or Event in the Philippines for the Honda Philippines Nationwide Tour. Meanwhile, the Football 7s Youth Program was awarded Best Youth Sports Development Program in the Philippines.

Football playing brothers Phil and James Younghusband were also recognized during the awards gala as Phil, who recently retired from his international football career, had a statue of himself auctioned off for charity. Another Philippine sports personality that was recognized was gymnast Carlos Yulo who won gold at the SEA Games for the All-Around and Floor Exercise as well as silvers in the Pommel Horse and Still Rings.

Aside from Ronaldo, also present at the two-day conference and awards night was track and field icon Dr. Edwin Moses, chairman of the education committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The American is a sporting legend in the 400m hurdles, having won gold medals at both the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Yet on top of his many accolades, Moses has arguably accomplished even more after his track and field career as he has served as chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy in 2000 which seeks to promote and increase participation in sport at every level, and also to promote the use of sport as a tool for social change around the world. Moses joined Ronaldo onstage for the “Icon 2 Icon” talk as they discussed their lives both during and after their athletic careers ended.

The SPIA Asia conference saw over 600 delegates and over 60 speakers, with over 450 submissions in 25 categories nominated for awards.

For more information about the conference program, visit www.spiaasia.com.

Gone are the days when styles were black and white—when choosing a style equated to a long-term commitment to live and breathe that chosen lifestyle. Today, finding one’s style is a constant flux. Monday could be business-fashionday, Tuesday can be chill-joggers-shirt day, while Wednesday could be a throwback-90s-style day. However you decide to go about with your style, you need a phone that can match any get-up in your state of “style exploration”.

With its sleek and unique design, the Vivo S1 Pro is the perfect phone for you to define your style. Its bold and lavish Knight Black and Fancy White colorways matches any “OOTD” you wear wherever you choose to wear it.

As smooth as your “getup”, ease-of-access has never been easier with the S1 Pro’s 8GB RAM and in-display fingerprint scanner. The phone, conceived by leading global technology company Vivo, also showcases a 6.38-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display perfect for viewing photos or watching your favorite flick.

Finally, to help capture memories and aid you in cementing your style, the S1 Pro boasts of state-of-the-art front and back cameras. Its unparalleled front-cam enclosed in a water-drop style notch captures ultra-clear photos with its 32 mega-pixel camera. On the other side, the very stylish and one-of-a-kind diamond-shaped rear camera of the Vivo S1 Pro consists of a 48MP main, 8MP secondary, 2MPwide-angle, and 2MP macro camera—a camera quartet unmatched in the mobile phone market.

Retailing for P15,999, the smartphone can be pre-ordered online and in-store from November 21 to 29. It will be available at all authorized Vivo outlets nationwide starting November 30.

The international franchise for eye care solutions, Vision Express is now at SM City San Jose del Monte providing the best quality of services and products.

Vision Express is a British company established in 1988 that sells spectacles and contact lenses. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength driven by a commitment to unparalleled customer service and providing the best personalized optical care, style, and quality.

Today, Vision Express is now one of the leading optical retailer in Europe, operating across 44 countries including the Philippines.

Customers can select from a wide range of frames and lenses for glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses, allowing everybody to reflect their individual personalities and lifestyles. The styles ranges from iconic to retro designs to the latest in ultra-modern chic. Vision Express Philippines also offers high-quality brands such as Ray-Ban, Bvlgari, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Guess and Moxie to suit every style.

As Christmas is fast approaching, visit Vision Express at the lower ground level of SM City San Jose del Monte and look good and feel great by giving the gift of vision this holiday season.

Ronaldo Nazario, president of Real Valladolid, was the most acclaimed figure present at SPIA Asia, an international congress held on 2 and 3 December in Manila and which brought together hundreds of representatives and speakers from the South Asian sports industry and other countries.


Ivan Codina, Director of LaLiga for Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea and Australia, Almudena Gomez, LaLiga Delegate for the Philippines, as well as representatives from Valencia CF,  RCD Mallorca and Real Valladolid were also present at the event. It is the fifth edition of this international sports industry conference, in which representatives of leagues and federations, renowned brands, associations and athletes exchange knowledge and experiences on sports marketing, international strategy, inclusion and innovation in sport, and other matters besides.



During the press conference organized by LaLiga, Ronaldo was enthusiastic about being invited to the congress and for being in the Philippines: "We are changing many things in our club, and one of them is our international reach. We are starting to work internationally; we want to be well-known and have people fall in love with our brand." He was asked about his reason to remain connected to LaLiga and specifically to Real Valladolid: "I have history with LaLiga, I spent seven years playing in the competition. Valladolid is a very special LaLiga club, with history and a lot of potential. It's a big challenge, and I'm delighted with the decision I took. We will fight hard to stay in LaLiga Santander." Regarding LaLiga's competitiveness, the Brazilian noted that the competition is more closely-fought than ever, saying "last season was tough, I suffered, we suffer, but we succeeded, but I hope this season we enjoy ourselves more and suffer less because LaLiga is more competitive than ever, the clubs are very evenly-balanced, so it's not going to be easy. And yes, it's the best league in the world," he concluded.

"We have been working in Asia for two years and we are more than satisfied,” commented Ivan Codina, director of LaLiga in Southeast Asia regarding the strategy of the competition in the continent. “We carry this out through the three offices we have on the continent and a dozen international delegates. In these different territories we always work with the leagues and the local federations, we collaborate." LaLiga’s representative participated in a presentation on the impact and strategy of football leagues in Asia.

Representatives of the LaLiga Santander teams also participated in a panel on the international strategies of clubs in Asia last Monday. "Asia is a strategic continent for us, in fact we achieved an audience of 18 million viewers last season and we already have 1.4 million followers in Asia on our social networks," Josep Borrell, commercial strategy coordinator of Valencia CF, told attendees. As for Albert Salas, director of RCD Mallorca, he noted in his presentation that "with Kubo joining the club we have opened up even more to the international market and especially to the Asian market." The feat achieved by the club, climbing from Segunda B to LaLiga Santander, was also highlighted. He also explained the club's close relationship with the NBA, as well as the achievement of having secured two consecutive promotions.

As for David Espinar, director of the Cabinet of the Presidency of Real Valladolid, he explained to the attendees how the club had changed since the arrival of its new president, Ronaldo Nazario. "He is not only a shareholder and the president; he is a globally recognized figure who acts as our club's ambassador. We want to continue to open up to the world, get people to know our brand, but we are not looking for business partners per se, we want to make friends who fall in love with us," explained the representative of the Castille y Leon-based club. He told attendees about the club's positive experience last season in the USA and Canada and reiterated its interest in continuing to work internationally.

Once again, LaLiga's great commitment to social responsibility projects was highlighted. Almudena Gomez, Delegate of LaLiga in the Philippines, participated in a presentation on inclusion and new strategies in sponsorships and establishing projects in which she explained the LaLiga Genuine Santander project, the official competition organized by LaLiga for people with disabilities and in which 36 of its clubs participate.

This prestigious international gathering, SPIA Asia 2019, which takes place at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Manila, is part of the activities organised for the 30th edition of the South East Asian Games.
As for LaLiga's presence in Asia, it currently has three offices on the mainland (Singapore, China and India), as well as 12 delegates working permanently in the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Australia, among other territories. In addition to agreements with local sponsors and specific social networks in several Asian countries, LaLiga has also signed various agreements with local leagues and federations.

With the objective of promoting culinary excellence in the country, Tecnogas Philippines recently hosted its first-ever cooking competition entitled “Tecnogas Kitchen Superstar”. The live cook-off served as an exciting platform for food enthusiasts with no professional culinary experience to showcase their skills and love for cooking.


“For more than 65 years, Tecnogas has always been passionate in creating cooking appliances designed to deliver best results. And through this event, we want to encourage and promote culinary excellence even more by letting them use the right equipment,” said JP Rahnema, Sales Manager of Tecnogas Philippines.
Being the first of its kind for Tecnogas, the fun-filled afternoon saw the attendees enjoying good food and winning exciting raffle prizes, aside from witnessing the main competition.

Tecnogas Kitchen Superstar event attendees