Members of Romanian Chinese House have participated at probably the most entertaining and dramatic game of the UEFA EURO 2020 so far. Switzerland beat France on penalties to advance to a quarter-final in a dramatic evening in Bucharest, Romania. France 3-3 Switzerland (feathers: 4-5)
UEFA EURO 2020 is being held across the continent for the first time in the competition’s 60-year history, with 11 host cities in all.
The pressure on Mbappé turned out to be too much at the end but the shootout was not the real problem for France tonight. Lloris’ penalty save seemed to be the turning point and, after scoring three quick goals, there was no way the French should have allowed the Swiss back into the game. Switzerland played superbly and bringing Lenglet out at half-time was an admission by Deschamps that he was wrong in his initial setup, write David Crossan, journalist from France.
History is being written! Switzerland win their first EURO knockout match and they do it in an incredible way, beating the world champions. It was the perfect night. The Swiss were solid at the back, with a high pace in pressing and advancing, frustrating the top three in France and able to break the deadlock. The missed penalty changed the momentum but the reaction was incredible. Switzerland was always going to have to be perfect against France and, in the end, they were is writing Matthew Howarth a reporter from Suisse.
Switzerland brilliantly came back from 3-1 down to send their Euro 2020 last-16 tie against France to extra time and then penalties, where Kylian Mbappe failed to convert from the spot as Les Bleus crashed out of the competition.
France started off better, but it was Switzerland who took the lead after 15 minutes as Haris Seferovic headed home a pinpoint cross from Steven Zuber. Switzerland are now in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals, where they will face Spain write marca.com.
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More Chinese companies than ever signed up to sponsor the UEFA European Football Championships, becoming the largest source of sponsorship for the tournament. Four Chinese companies — Hisense, Alipay, Vivo and TikTok — are among the 12 sponsors of Euro 2020, the first top-notch sporting event launched since the pandemic, after a one-year delay.
Chinese companies are increasingly relying on high-visibility sporting events for global brand-building. In 2016, state-owned electronics maker Hisense became the first Chinese sponsor of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) soccer championship. Brand awareness of Hisense nearly doubled in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain after Euro 2016, Hisense said, citing the market research firm Ipsos Group. Hisense was also a major sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Alibaba Group’s payment unit, Alipay, reached an eight-year partnership deal with UEFA in November 2018, which includes Euro 2020 and 2024. The company is the Euro 2020 official global payment partner. The deal was reported to be worth 200 million euros ($230 million).
Euro 2020 is the first time for Chinese smartphone maker Vivo and ByteDance’s short-video platform TikTok to sponsor the games as both companies look to expand their business presence on the continent.
Vivo agreed to a two-tournament deal including Euro 2024 and became the official smartphone provider for the games. In February, Vivo officially entered Romania and the Czech Republic as part of an ambitious plan launched in October 2020 to expand in Europe. Vivo said it plans to cover more than 12 markets in Europe by the end of the year.
ByteDance said in March that its video-sharing site TikTok had become the first digital entertainment platform to sponsor the European soccer tournament.
TikTok “is looking to cement its reputation as the home for football fans to share their passion for the game, as well as driving awareness with new audiences,” according to a statement.
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The strong presence of Chinese sponsors is drawing attention at the UEFA Euro 2020 after the first top-notch sporting event kicked off on Friday in Rome despite the coronavirus pandemic. Four Chinese companies, among the 12 sponsors of the UEFA European Championships, represent Chinese brands’ ambitions to go global.
Hisense, Alipay, Vivo and TikTok are among the UEFA National Team Football Official Sponsors and UEFA Euro 2020 Official Sponsors, making China one of the largest sources of sponsors for this year’s football party in Europe. Other sponsors include FedEx, Booking.com, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola and Qatar Airways.
On Sunday night Beijing time, electronics manufacturer Hisense and the British Embassy in Beijing invited more than 400 football fans to watch the soccer game.
“This year and next year are big years for global sporting events because the UEFA Euro, Olympic Games and World Cup are being or will be held one after another. It is an excellent time for our brand to expand its profile,” Hisense told the Global Times in a statement on Monday.
It is the second time for Hisense to sponsor the UEFA Euro event. Ipsos found the brand awareness of Hisense doubled in five countries in Europe (Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) after it sponsored the Euro 2016.
ByteDance-owned TikTok became the first digital entertainment platform to sponsor the tournament as the short-video sharing platform “is looking to cement its reputation as the home for football fans to share their passion for the game, as well as driving awareness with new audiences,” according to a statement published on UEFA.com in February.
The platform has gained rising popularity in multiple countries and is regarded by industry practitioners as one of the most successful Chinese brands in going global.
“Sports, especially soccer, are popular among European consumers. Sponsoring the Euro is beneficial to build a bridge between the brand and the audiences,” Zhang Qing, CEO of Key Solution Sports Co, a firm that consults on the sports industry in China, told the Global Times on Monday.
According to Zhang, in the 1980s, Japanese companies sponsored a good number of international sporting events and South Korean companies started to do so in the 1990s. “Now, Chinese companies are more competitive in fields such as consumer electronics, home appliances, mobile devices, and IT. The latecomers now have an upper hand.”
He said this reflected Chinese companies’ growing investment in technological research and development, as well as improving participation in the global value chain.
However, the road to globalization is beset with hurdles. “Unreasonable anti-globalization or protectionist actions have had an adverse impact on Chinese companies,” Zhang pointed out.
Because of the pandemic, manufacturing activity in India was affected, and raw material bases in northern Vietnam were also disrupted.
Chinese internet giant Alibaba, which signed an $800 million deal to sponsor the Olympic Games through 2028 according to media reports, may also see declining publicity effects and audience numbers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, industry experts said.
Despite the hardships, Chinese companies agreed that globalization will still be a pivotal strategy, and they will not give up overseas markets.
One of the sponsors for the UEFA Euro 2020, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo, has been expanding in the European market since October 2020. In February, it entered Romania and the Czech Republic, and it plans to cover more than 12 markets in Europe by the end of the year.
Deng Li, Vivo vice president and president of the European markets, said that Vivo hopes to adopt a “local mentality, local culture and local management” philosophy to serve consumers and better integrate into the local market. By respecting its local European partners and the needs of local consumers, Vivo is committed to localized operations and is doing well in the European market.
According to Counterpoint, Vivo’s global smartphone market share increased from 5 percent in the first quarter of 2018 to 10 percent in the first quarter this year.
Hisense is also speeding up its global expansion. It started to build an intelligent household appliance industrial park in Mexico in March, where it will make refrigerators, washing machines, ovens and air conditioners for customers in Mexico, US and Canada. In the same month, the brand’s first air conditioner was produced in Thailand.
Chinese Companies Make Up 1/3 of Euro Cup 2020 Sponsors, Causing Concerns in Europe write theepochtimes.com.
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BY SPONSORING EURO 2021, CHINESE COMPANIES TRY TO TAP THE EUROPEAN MARKET. Four Chinese companies have committed to sponsor Euro 2021, “The feast of European football”. An act revealing their ambition to conquer the Old Continent market.
Among the list of twelve partners of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for Euro 2021, a third is from China. These are Hisense (manufacturer of televisions, radios and household appliances), Alipay (mobile payment application developed by the Chinese giant Alibaba), TikTok (short video sharing platform) and Vivo (manufacturer of smartphones).
With a huge audience all over the world, “The European football festival is a business boon that Chinese companies have not missed to promote their brands”, comment Time. Even if the amount of their sponsorship remains imprecise, their ambition is nevertheless obvious: to exploit the European market.
The European market in the sights
“At Euro 2016, Hisense was the only [entreprise] Chinese. […] Subsequently, it was itself surprised by the explosion of its sales in Europe ”, Shankai Sports co-founder Olivier Glauser told the Swiss daily. His company, based in Beijing and Lausanne, “Plays a key role in three of the four Chinese contracts with UEFA”, reveals the Lausanne newspaper.
The first sponsorship of an international sports competition by Hisense dates from 2012 and concerned.
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source: fr24news.com; archyworldys.com, Archyw; globaltimes.cn, Zhang Dan; asia.nikkei.com, theepochtimes.com