Uefa has added another Chinese brand to its sponsorship portfolio after agreeing a deal for online retail marketplace AliExpress to become an official partner of Euro 2024.
AliExpress is the consumer-facing retail division of the Alibaba Group that was created as an offshoot of the Alibaba.com B2B e-commerce platform in 2010. The platform is likened to Amazon, Etsy or eBay and, unlike its sister company, offers e-commerce services to individual consumers without a minimum order quantity.
The Euro 2024 deal will see AliExpress offer discounts on its AliExpress Choice service, as well as interactive games and the opportunity to win match tickets. AliExpress Choice is the company’s enhanced e-commerce product, which offers free shipping, free returns and delivery guarantees.
The deal was brokered by CAA Eleven, Uefa’s exclusive sponsorship sales agency for its men’s national team football competitions.
Uefa already has a national team competition sponsorship deal with mobile payment platform Alipay, part of the Ant Group, a technology affiliate of the Alibaba Group, although the two deals are not thought to be connected. National team competition sponsors are granted sponsorship rights across all of the federation’s men’s national team competitions, including the Uefa Euro, Nations League, the Under-21 Euro and men’s national team futsal.
Chinese appliance and electronics manufacturer Hisense is also a national team competition sponsor while other Chinese brands to have standalone sponsorship deals with the Euro 2024 tournament include smartphone manufacturer Vivo and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD.
The deal with BYD was particularly striking as the Chinese automotive brand replaced Volkswagen in the role. As exclusively reported by SportBusiness, the German car manufacturer decided not to renew its men’s national team football deal, inclusive of Euro 2024, despite the tournament taking place in its home market of Germany. Gerd Voss, director, sports communication and head of Volkswagen Football Centre, said the decision was taken for ‘cost discipline’ reasons.
Last September, the European Commission launched an investigation into whether to impose tariffs on Chinese EV imports that were benefiting from state subsidies to undercut European manufacturers.
Uefa’s other national team competition sponsors include Adidas, Atos and Visit Qatar, although the latter brand is understood to alternate with Qatar Airways. The Euro 2024 sponsorship portfolio includes deals with Betano, Booking.com, Coca-Cola, Lidl and Engelbert Strauss.
SportBusiness understands opportunities are still available for brands to align themselves with the tournament and CAA Eleven continues to have conversations wit interested parties.
AliExpress European commercial director Gary Topp said: “As football enthusiasm spreads across Europe, we will bring fans even closer to the action, with great deals on a vast selection of popular and trending products, as well as interactive games and the chance to win fantastic prizes.”
Uefa marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein added: “We will work closely together to make the fan digital experience for this summer’s spectacle as exciting as possible, bringing further innovations to football fans all around the world. This starts with offering fans the chance to win some unforgettable prizes, including match tickets for UEFA EURO 2024.”
Alibaba is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Partner Programme (TOP) while AliExpress previously served as the back-of-shirt sponsor for Spanish LaLiga side Sevilla, as well as the sleeve sponsor for French Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais, during the 2020-21 football season.
SOURCE: https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/aliexpress-becomes-latest-chinese-brand-to-sponsor-euro-2024/