It was the latest in a long line of Albion-related things you never imagined seeing.

American Express joined forces with a leading back in Ecuador to offer the star prize of a trip to a Brighton home game.

Amex launched the competition along with Banco Guayaquil, offering customers the chance to win a VIP trip to a Premier League fixture at the Amex.

They brought in Gabriela Alcivar, a leading football presenter on Ecuadorean television, to promote the competition.

None of that used to happen when the Seagulls were playing Crewe or Scunthorpe at Withdean.

Of course, we don’t know whether one of the faces on the competition – that of Moises Caicedo – will still be with the Seagulls by the time the lucky winner heads from Quito to Falmer.

But the attraction of coming to a Premier League game is there.

And Albion are a big part of that as one of the most exciting clubs in the star-studded competition and as home to several players who were big names in their homelands even when we were just getting to know them.

The line that “the Japanese have bought up all the replica shirts” is apparently an exaggeration.

But those sales have certainly helped the club sell merchandise at record levels.

The growing number of fans from Kaoru Mitoma’s homeland is obvious to anyone who has been to an Albion game, be it at home or away.

Then there are the YouTube videos put out by London-based Ecuadorean Ronald Collante, who shows South American fans the thrills of watching Albion from the stands while also showing them the attractions of Brighton and other cities (but mainly Brighton).

There appears a camaraderie between the Spanish-speaking South American nations which does not exist between, for example different countries across Europe.

So Ronald also keeps an eye on, and celebrates, players such as Julio Enciso and Facundo Buonanotte.

Whether international fans who now follow Albion, be it in the stands or from afar, remain on board when their favourite players move on is open to doubt.

But they will surely retain an interest in the club. They will know all about them.

And maybe some indeed remain fans, like the Zambian supporter who still messages me after games, months after the retirement of his favourite Enock Mwepu.

“It is pretty hard to break down,” said Albion’s chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber when asked if he could quantify the contribution to the club’s economy made by fans from abroad who are initially attracted by the arrival of their favourite players.

“To give an example, I bumped into a group of five Japanese people before the Fulham game.

“They were there very early and I stopped and chatted.

“They explained to me they were at Durham University.

“They had driven down that morning in a Fiat 500, five of them, and they were there to not only see Mitoma but they had adopted Brighton as their team.

“They each had a bag of Brighton goodies and each was wearing a Mitoma shirt.

“They had been following Brighton and Mitoma since the day he joined us.

“They hadn’t just turned up for the one game.

“They try to get to a few games this season.

“Will they carry on watching the club when Mitoma isn’t with us?

“I don’t know. It is hard to tell.

“It is the same for any club in that situation.

“I suspect some will, most won’t because they tend to follow the player.

“But we have also got some fans from Ecuador and Paraguay and Argentina.

“Every so often you will bump into someone wearing an Argentina shirt and find they are a tourist in the UK, from Argentina, who follows Brighton from afar.

“It is fantastic to see the growth of those sorts of fans, it has been amazing.”