Ali Sports, the subsidiary of Chinese commercial giant Alibaba, has just secured a comprehensive strategic partnership deal with Tokyo-based Dentsu Group, the universal agent of commercial rights for the FIFA Club World Cup.

As planned, Ali Sports presented the Most Valuable Player award to Luis Alberto Suárez, the pro footballer from Spanish club FC Barcelona at the final on December 20. Then Jack Ma, the executive chairman of Alibaba, together with Zhang Dazhong, CEO of Ali Sports, paid a visit to Tadashi Ishii, president of the Japanese group.

As Jack Ma said, their dedication to sport is motivated more by what they can bring to Chinese people, than by how much they may earn. During the conversation, the Chinese magnate also showed his interest in women’s sport. He hopes that in the future, his company will make contributions to the development of women’s sport.

Founded in 1901, the Dentsu Group is one of the world’s largest advertising agencies and the fifth largest marketing and communications organization. The Group constantly promotes the establishment of new business domains through strong relationships with content holders in the business of sport. Earlier this month, Alibaba E-Auto became the exclusive presenting partner of the FIFA Club World Cup, which was also a result of Dentsu’s efforts. 

In terms of the cooperation, Tadashi Ishii believes that the two sides can seek cooperation in the fields of sport, film, video, music, animation, digital gaming and data-based marketing.

Source: Xinhua

Proofread by John Devlin