Here are the top China sports business news stories you need to know from this week:
Shunxin Sponsors Beijing 2022 Beijing 2022 has announced a new Official Sponsor, Beijing Shunxin Agriculture Co., Ltd, which produces Chinese baijiu, meat and other agricultural food products. As a sponsor of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, Shunxin will provide a wide variety of food products for the Games. Read more on Tencent (Chinese) and Beijing2022 (English)
Alisports Appoints New CEO The sports arm of Alibaba Group has made a notable change at its helm by replacing outgoing CEO Zhang Dazhong with the current GM of Alibaba’s Youku Sports and Children’s Division, Dai Wei. Read more on Ecosports (Chinese)
Mailman Take: As mentioned several times by Jack Ma, the strategic focus of Alibaba in the future will be on both ‘happiness’ and ‘health’. Alibaba has recently put greater emphasis on the sports industry and dedicated more time and resources, including sponsorships with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UEFA. This change of CEO at Alisports will mean Alibaba continuously pushes on the integration between the culture and entertainment of Alibaba with sports, and see the position of Alisports as a future connection between ‘happiness’ and ‘health’.
Changsha Set for FIBA 3×3 Asia Cups The capital city of central China’s Hunan province will host the next three editions of FIBA’s 3×3 Asia Cup from 2019 to 2021. Changsha will welcome 24 top teams from Asia and Oceania at the fourth edition of the tournament in May next year. Read more on Xinhua (English) and Chinanews (Chinese)
China Unicom Signals Beijing 2022 Intent with 5G Investment The Official Telecommunication Services Partner of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will invest $200 million in 5G related projects in its services to Beijing 2022. Read more on Xinhua (Chinese) and CGTN (English)
Shanghai Growing Grassroots Football Grassroots football in Shanghai achieved significant growth in 2018. The Shanghai Football Association and 16 district football associations organised 100+ grassroots football activities, 5000+ football competitions, including 2300+ teams and 37000+ players. Read more on Baidu (Chinese)
Nike Signs Wang Shuang American multinational corporation Nike and Chinese female football player Wang Shuang have agreed a partnership together. Wang Shuang currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain in the Division 1 Féminine, having joined the French club in August. Wang Shuang recently won the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Player of the Year 2018. Read more on Lanxiong (Chinese)
In Other News: China Land Spacecraft on Moon China successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, the first ever such landing. The unmanned Chang’e-4 probe touched down in the South Pole-Aitken basin and is carrying instruments to characterise the region’s geology, as well as a biological experiment. Read more on BBC (English) and China News (Chinese)
Wolves Sign Wang Jiahao
English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers have signed China’s Wang Jiahao, also known as David Wang, on a 4-and-a-half year contract. The 18-year-old winger will be leased to Sporting CP, where he will see out the rest of the season to further his development. Read more on China Daily (English) and China News (Chinese)
—
Now you can subscribe to our China Sports Business Weekly brief and have it delivered directly to you, wherever you are.