The English Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga both feature on the three-day conference’s company shortlist, revealed earlier this month, with representatives set to be in attendance at the Shangri-La Hotel.

British newspaper The Daily Mail reported earlier this month that Hong Kong is set to pay more for Premier League television rights than any other country in Asia as Chinese entertainment company LeTV prepares to finalise a bumper deal for 2016-19.

In September, LeTV made a massive offer of $400 million (£283 million/€370 million) for the broadcast rights - double what NowTV, an internet television service owned by Sky plc, paid for 2013-16.

This works out at the equivalent of $128 million (£90 million/€118 million) a year from Hong Kong to Premier League clubs, more than Thailand’s $96 million (£68 million/€89 million), according to analysis by the newspaper.

It is calculated that the Premier League will earn $4.5 billion (£3.2 billion/€4.1 billion) in overseas television rights for the next three years when their final major contract, with India, is completed.

This is more than 150 times the amount earned when the league started in 1992, highlighting its growing appeal.

Asked to name the top emergent sport in Asia, Jones told the SPORTELAsia website: "European soccer.

"This sport has a massive following globally and of course also in Asia.  

"With more media packages available, but also special events and matches organised by the European super leagues, soccer is the number one growing sport in Asia for me."

Jones added: "Many of the super leagues, such as the Premier League, Bundesliga and the Spanish La Liga have invested quite a lot to develop the Asian market for their products.

"Needless to say that soccer is hugely popular in Asia, so the European leagues are a very sought after property for the Asian media.

"The organisation of special events, matches and the integration of the sport by Asian broadcasters shall spike merchandise sales and sponsorship deals with new and local brands."

SPORTEL conventions gather top level executives from all over the world, representing sports networks, sports marketing agencies, production companies, sports content right owners and distributors, technology and new media.

Sport Federations are also represented at the event.

The objective of the 2016 SPORTELAsia convention, which has a slogan of "meet the elite", is to offer an interactive platform for cross continental business opportunities and to determine the future of sports media in Asia.

More than 600 people attended the 2014 edition in Shanghai, with 299 companies from 42 countries represented.

"Since China has opened up their media politics, we see a clear rise of Asian based entities registering for SPORTEL convention," said Jones. 

"Obviously SPORTEL is the one B2B business platform where the Asian marketing and media industry find the sports properties they need to build their necessary platforms.

"Latest statistics show that currently 37 per cent of the registered entities are Asian based, ready to meet with the registered European and American elite of the industry."

The convention’s full company shortlist can be accessed by clicking here while the programme will be available soon.