Wanda announced a sponsorship agreement with FIFA at a conference held in Beijing on Monday. (Photo/Courtesy of Wanda)
The owner of Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group said on Monday that, in addition to his own company, two more Chinese companies could also sponsor the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as partners within this year.
"In a short time, there will probably be another company that will sign up as a partner, and if everything goes smoothly, including Wanda, there could be three Chinese companies as FIFA's top-level sponsors this year," Wang -Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, said on Monday, without disclosing further details.
Wang made the remark at a press conference in Beijing at which he announced a sponsorship agreement with the governing body of world soccer, making Wanda FIFA's first top-level sponsoring partner from China.
According to the agreement, the 15-year contract will grant Wanda top-level sponsorship rights. The partnership will allow Wanda to have global marketing rights to all of FIFA's competitions including the next four World Cup tournaments.
The deal brings Wanda into an exclusive group of at most eight companies including adidas AG, Visa Inc and the Coca-Cola Co. FIFA's latest partner, Russian energy giant Gazprom, signed up in 2013.
Wang did not avoid discussion of FIFA's scandals in 2015, but he said no matter who is the president of FIFA, it won't diminish the charm of the game as the largest sports event in the world. He believes "the Chinese soccer industry is now in an unprecedented spring" and it is "very worthy" of teaming up with FIFA.
Further, Wang said FIFA's problems create an opportunity for Wanda, with media reports saying a number of sponsors have dropped out due to anti-corruption investigations.
On Thursday, FIFA announced a loss of $122 million in 2015, a year marked with a corruption scandal. It was the first loss since 2002. Sony and Emirates quit as top-tier FIFA sponsors at the end of 2014.
However, "the deal is not only about sponsorship, but also a corporate agreement," Wang said. He termed it "win-win" outcome.
Wanda has been quite busy for years in sports-related mergers and acquisitions. Since the beginning of 2015, the company paid close to $50 million for a 20 percent stake in Atletico Madrid, the club champions of Spanish soccer, finished an acquisition of Infront Sports & Media in Switzerland and purchased World Triathlon Corp in the U.S., helping the realty group diversify into the entertainment sector.
Other Chinese companies are also tapping overseas sports sponsorship.
In January this year, Reuters reported that Chinese electronics giant Hisense signed a deal as a global sponsor of UEFA EURO 2016, the first sponsorship deal with a Chinese company in the championship's 56-year history.
