China smart phone manufacturers, Gionee held a press conference with the China Football Association (CFA), announcing a new 4-year partnership. The coach of China Men’s national team Alain Perrin and goalkeeper Wang Dalei also attended the conference.
According to the contract, Gionee will sponsor 7 national teamsquads:Men’and Women’s Adult, U19’s, U16’s and the Men’s Olympic Team. The duration of the partnership is 4 years.
The vice president of CFA, Lin Xiaohua thought highly of Gionee’s sponsorship, “The long lifespan of Gionee’s battery matches the spirit of China Men’s National Team. Football is a long-term investment so we need much more enterprises like Gionee.”
, Liu LiRong, Diector of Gionee said, “the target market of Gionee is business people. Some of them are football fans thus sports is becoming another side of business.”At the same time, Liu also expects smartphone sales of40m and 30 billion RMB in revenue this year.
Gionee is not the first Chinese smart phone brand to sponsor sports team.Previous Chinese telecommunications sports sponsorships include, Kejian who were the first pioneer having sponsored the EPL’s Everton in 2002. Recently there has been a flurry of sports partnerships by Chinese smartphone manufacturers, Oppo supports Barcelona, HTC has partnered with UEFA Champions League and Europa League, Huawei invested in PSG and Meizu is working together with CSL heavyweights Guangzhou Evergrande.
Source: Tencent
proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick