Exclusive - Asian soccer chiefs plan new marketing deal without tender: sources

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) head Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa arrives for a meeting with the FIFA task force in Doha February 24, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has lined up a new eight-year deal with a sports marketing agency owned by French media group Lagardere without offering it to a formal tender, two sources close to the process told Reuters.

    The marketing agreement with World Sports Group (WSG), re-named Lagardere Sports last month in a re-brand by the French group, replaces an existing $1-billion (0.64 billion pound) deal which still had more than four years to run, the sources said.