Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published: December 21,2022
By Staff Writer
The first story linking China and the just concluded 2022 World cup in Qatar was about Chinese-made products standing out ranging from stadiums to water supply systems and clean energy technologies, ensuring a green global football environment. The names of Chinese enterprises could be easily seen on banners and pitch-side signs.
China’s Ambassador to Qatar, Zhou Jian, said China made an impact on the world of football even though its national team didn’t qualify for the games.”I feel sohonored as China is able to make contributions to the World Cup,” Zhou said.
The Lusail Stadium, with a capacity of 80,000-seats which was the final closing ceremony venue for the World Cup was jointly constructed by Qatar and the China Railway Construction Corporation. Media reports indicate that it was the first time a Chinese company participated as a main contractor to design and build a professional football venue under the highest FIFA standards.
According to GlobalData, a data analytics and consulting company based in London, Chinese enterprises spent more than those from US in sponsoring the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Chinese enterprises total spending reached $1.4 billion, while US companies trailed in second place with a total of $1.1 billion expenditure. The world Cup expenditure between China and US companies is one of the indicators how China as the second largest economy is steadily edging out US that is holding number one position as the richest economy in the world.
After the World cup which was won by Argentina after beating France which was the defending champion, the Argentine Football Association revealed that Chineseenterprises accounted for 10-15 percent of their totalglobal sponsors with which they struck deals inNovember. The Argentina team and its playersreceived sponsorship from Chinese companies like: Yili, Panpan Food, Cotti Coffee, Macro, NetEase, GMMC, Wanda Sports and Lingxi Games are all sponsors, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.
China comes first among Asian countries with largest World Cup audiences, followed by India and Indonesia. Data from FIFA also indicated that the World Cup Asian audience population has grown since 2018, making 43percent of the global total, although Europe and Americas are known as the traditional football powers.
Talk about trade wars between US and China, the World Cup has opened up a new arena. Stay tuned for what will happen in the next World Cup. Who knows, the US and China football teams may also face each other on the pitch.
