Chinese companies sign up for UEFA EURO 2020 football sponsorship

Beijing — After Consumer Electronics Company Hisense became First Chinese sponsor At the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, three other Chinese companies signed this year’s Euro 2020 partnership.

These companies are paying to enter overseas markets while building global fame for domestic shoppers.

Pierre Justo, Managing Director of International, Media and Sports at consulting firm Canter, said: on mail.

The Chinese government is encouraging domestic companies to expand overseas, and many companies are eager to strengthen their brand by selling overseas.

Hisense, based in Qingdao, Shandong, said it aims to generate half of its total revenue, about $ 23.5 billion, by 2025. That’s three times the $ 7.93 billion I earned abroad during last year’s pandemic.

TV and consumer electronics makers claim that sales in Europe more than doubled in the first five months of the year, supported by a surge in demand for refrigerators in France.

Hisense said it started expanding into Europe more than 10 years ago and now has more than 8,000 employees on the continent and offices in Germany, Spain and 20 other countries. The company sponsored the 2018 Fifa World Cup and signed the 2022 contract.

Another Chinese sponsor, smartphone company Vivo, officially entered six European countries in October, claiming that it has more than 400 million users in more than 50 countries.

A complete list of Euro 2020 sponsors was not available, but the ones listed on the UEFA website include Russian energy companies. Gazprom, German car maker Volkswagen And US express delivery company FedEx..

AlibabaPartners Alipay and ByteDance’s TikTok are one of the other companies paying to roll their names along the perimeter of the stadium behind soccer players in June and July of this year.

The one-month Euro 2020 football tournament, which began on June 11, has been postponed since last year due to a pandemic. In the final championship of 2016 2 billion people listen to live TV According to a UEFA report quoted by the Associated Press, it was boosted by growing interest from China and Brazil.

2018, Alipay 8 year partnership This included Euro 2020 and Euro 2024. Equivalent to 200 million euros ($ 238.5 million)According to sources quoted by the Financial Times. For Euro 2020, Alipay’s contract includes a display of the subsidiary in English and Chinese.

UEFA said it was unable to disclose the costs of partnering with a Chinese brand “due to confidentiality clauses.” When contacted by CNBC, Ant refused to confirm the size of the eight-year partnership agreement.

Alipay, one of China’s two largest mobile payment operators, has tried to expand globally in collaboration with overseas merchants and Chinese tourists. The number of Chinese tourists has plummeted since the border was closed by a pandemic last year.

Another Chinese company trying to profit from the tournament iQiyiHas acquired the online livestreaming rights for Euro 2020. Subscriber growth was just over 100 million, with a loss of $ 193.4 million in the first quarter.

This deal attracted “significant” visitor traffic and opportunities for business partnerships with. Volvo, Heineken, With Volkswagen MeituanLingxiao Yu, CEO of iQiyi Sports, said in a Chinese statement translated by CNBC.

As a result, more people refused to share whether they purchased the subscription. The state broadcaster CCTV reserves the right to broadcast the game live on television.

Euro 2020 is one of the most popular topics in the last few weeks. WeiboIn the Chinese version of Twitter, it is unclear how much the Chinese football market can grow without world-class teams.

For the past two decades, China has failed in trying to build its own team by paying the highest amount to foreign players and coaches, according to Canter’s Justo. He said the only way for China to develop its own soccer star is to develop a bottom-up local culture centered on sports.

The contrast between global interest in football and global interest in China is clear on TikTok.

Euro 2020’s official account has 2.5 million followers, while Douyin has only 291,000 followers. This is a very popular Chinese version of the short video and streaming app owned by ByteDance.

China remains a large and lucrative market for international sports.After decades of cultivation, a local company of the National Basketball Association Reached $ 4 billion in value in 2018, Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum told Forbes.

However, cooperation with China carries its own risks.

In 2019, an NBA-affiliated tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters made the mainland companies: Pause them Partnership, estimation Costs up to $ 400 million To the association.

Official video streaming platform Tencent According to state media, state broadcaster CCTV stopped broadcasting games for over a year, while resuming most games a few days later.

Disclosure: CNBC’s parent, Comcast / NBCUniversal, has television rights to the English Premier League football match.