Opinion | Fifa milking Chinese companies for sponsorship shows World Cup dream is a question of ‘when’ not ‘if’
As China’s corporate encirclement of soccer’s governing body continues, Simon Chadwick takes a look at what a Chinese World Cup would look like
As another month has passed, so another Chinese corporation has become a Fifa sponsor. In December, China’s second-biggest dairy firm, China Mengniu Dairy (CMD), became the latest 2018 World Cup sponsor.
The Inner Mongolia-based company has thus acquired the less than catchy title of ‘official supplier of drinkable yogurt and pre-packaged ice cream’ for the tournament.
CMD’s deal with world soccer’s biggest competition brings to four the total number of Chinese corporations whose names we can look forward to seeing in Russia in June.
For those unfamiliar with the brands, it perhaps matters less who they are and what they do, than what they signify.
Four years ago, at the World Cup in Brazil, China’s Yingli was sponsoring its second World Cup. Few may recall the company’s name on the pitchside rotational signage; even fewer are likely to know the company is one of the world’s leading solar panel manufacturers. The sponsorship was probably more about China’s emerging status as a leader in green technology than anything else.
