“His Majesty is not helping Cardiff City FC, but more to promote the country,” Tan said at a press conference yesterday.

Cardiff City FC, under its manager Neil Warnock, is set to compete in the 2018/19 English Premier League alongside Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool following its promotion from the Championship League.

At the press conference, Tan said he hoped the new tourism minister would consider working together with his club to further promote Malaysia’s tourism industry.

“Barcelona star Luis Suarez currently is the ambassador for Tourism Malaysia. When he is playing football, it doesn’t tell people he is the Tourism Malaysia ambassador, but I think you can’t beat the ‘Visit Malaysia’ ambassador in the English Premier League.

“When Cardiff City plays in the English Premier League wearing jerseys with ‘Visit Malaysia’, 4.8 billion people around the world will see it,” he said.

Tan said many assumed that the tourism ministry had sponsored the ‘Visit Malaysia’ logo when it had only done so for one season, from 2013 to 2014.

“They paid for just one year. That was when we were in the English Premier League. So now, we are back in the league again and we hope the new minister will take it into consideration.

“They should contribute because in the English Premier League, we have to spend a lot of money,” he added.

Known as the Bluebirds and representing the capital city of Wales, Cardiff City FC is the only non-English club to have won the FA Cup, lifting the trophy in 1927.

The team also reached the 2008 FA Cup final and the 2012 League Cup final at Wembley Stadium.