An advertising sign for TCL, a Chinese brand, is displayed at a train station in Russia. (Photos: Wang Yi/People's Daily app)

Saint Petersberg (People's Daily) - China’s corporations are surely the off-field stars of the 2018 Russia World Cup, holding seven of the 19 corporate sponsor positions that range from FIFA Partners, World Cup Sponsors and Regional Supporters. It’s not just that Chinese firms realized the marketing value of this massive sporting event, but also FIFA’s reformed sponsor rules encouraged investment from emerging markets, like China.

"China plays an indispensable role in FIFA’s global football strategy," FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said. FIFA’s goal of getting 60 percent of the world’s population to participate in football will need the participation of China’s 1.4 billion population and potential fans.

Around one in five Chinese people watched the 2014 tournament on television, but football’s popularity in the country did not previously translate into large numbers of Chinese sponsors for the World Cup. Only one Chinese company sponsored the 2014 tournament.

It was not until this World Cup modified their sponsor rules that Chinese corporations had the chance to become investors. FIFA added regional supporters last year as a third option for sponsors. According to the new rules for regional supporters, as stated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, every continent can have four supporters.

The seven Chinese companies are split across the three sponsor groups. Yadea, an electric-scooter company; Zhidianyijing, a virtual reality technology company; and Diking China, a men’s wear brand, are regional sponsors. World Cup Sponsors include Vivo, a mobile-phone company; Hisense, an electronics manufacturer; and Mengniu, China’s second-largest dairy company. Dalian Wanda, a conglomerate with interests in property and cinemas, is an official FIFA Partner.

Besides sponsors, there are other Chinese corporations participating in this event. In Russia, football fans this summer can see Chinese brands advertising almost everywhere, and a lot of Chinese football fans who went to Russia are seeing partners of big brands’ or are considered important customers.

Chinese brands have invested almost 40 percent to the total amount of the World Cup budget, Sean Zhang, general manager of TCL's brand innovation center, said. This demonstrates the resolution of many Chinese corporations to seize the opportunity offered in marketing during the World Cup, and thanks to the development of China’s economy, corporations, which have high quality products and services, are at an ideal moment to go global.

Philippe Le Floc’h, FIFA’s chief commercial officer, said, “[China’s] companies were initially focusing on the domestic market, but now they understand, or they have come to the point, where they control the domestic market and they want to go abroad. And there was a bit of a natural fit with the biggest sport on Earth. The property has a global footprint, and it was easy for them to go abroad using the most popular sport on Earth.”

Sports marketing analysts noted that sports brand building is a long-term business, but once built, the brand will make huge profits. The World Cup’s success can help China, and other emerging market companies, build a global influence. On the other hand, this also shows that China is lacking top level sports brands.