Melbourne Victory’s grand plan to become Asian superpower

Melbourne Victory’s owners have revealed that they want to buy soccer clubs in Europe and Asia in their quest to become an Asian superpower.

Melbourne Victory Captain Carl Valeri (L) and Ola Toivonen (R) in the club’s ACL playing strips. Picture: AAP

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Melbourne Victory’s owners have revealed that they want to buy soccer clubs in Europe and Asia in their quest to become an Asian superpower.

England and China are countries on their wishlist.

Club chairman Anthony Di Pietro and major shareholder Mario Biasin said they had already passed on a number of prospects.

Victory, recently valued at $40 million, enters its seventh Champions League campaign on Tuesday with its most expensive squad, headlined by Japan legend Keisuke Honda.

A new academy facility is the next key plank in their strategy.

Buoyed by Biasin’s investment in his hometown team Triestina, who he saved from virtual extinction to now be pushing for promotion into Italy’s second division (Serie B).

Melbourne Victory Captain Carl Valeri (L) and Ola Toivonen (R) in the club’s ACL playing strips. Picture: AAP

“We want to be Australia’s international club,’’ Di Pietro told the Herald Sun.

“You’d love to have something in the UK, you’ve got something in Italy — it’s a beautiful triangle. Then Asia, it could be a couple of places.

“We’ve built relationships around the world. If we were going to invest, we wouldn’t want a minority stake.

“We would want to influence things the Victory way, the values and the culture.

“Things come across our table regularly from the UK. We haven’t look seriously at anything, but we’re reviewing our strategy for the next five to 10 years.”

Biasin, whose Metricon empire has offices in Vietnam and Philippines, admitted they’ve had overseas approaches.

Victory Chairman Anthony Di Pietro (L) has grand plans for the club. Picture: Norm Oorloff

“We had an opportunity in Singapore, it wasn’t the right time,’’ he said.

“There’s still a lot to learn. As we develop (Victory), I think we can transfer into rather geographic locations and working with other leagues as well. There will be opportunities there in future.”

Di Pietro declared that the 2019 Champions League campaign, which featured clashes with Guangzhou Evergrande, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Daegu FC, was a vital for Victory.

“With the international facing outlook that we have, it’s going as far into Asia as we can is one of our high priorities and we’ve given Kevin all the resources we possibly can,’’ Di Pietro said.

Biasin has become a hero in his birthplace, with the 100-year-old-club were facing relegation from the fourth tier when he bought them in 2016, and just beat a Monza team recently bought by former Italian prime minister and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.

Melbourne Victory starts their ACL campaign on Tuesday. Picture: Getty

A distinctly Australian flavour has been instilled, with a junior arm branded Triestina Victory and Biasin — a backer of AFL club Essendon — was excited by the future.

“The ambition is to get Triestina to Serie B and consolidate and then get to Serie A. The club was in (Serie B) 10 years ago and the highest its finished is second (in Serie A) back in 1954,’’ Biasin said.

“Once Triestina gets to Serie B, there might be some leverage there — I really believe that Melbourne Victory’s IP, the way we run the club here, is as professional as anything I’ve seen. We have a very stable board now.”