CHINESE TELECOMS giant Huawei paid a one-off fee to sponsor Atlético Madrid in the Madrid derby against Real played at the Vincnete Calderon Stadium this Wednesday.
The front-of-shirt deal marked the first sports sponsorship for Huawei in Western Europe and supported the brand’s goal to connect with consumers globally as it celebrates 10 years of operation in Spain.
“This exclusive sponsorship supports our aim to become one of the leading global mobile phone brands and provides an opportunity for consumers not just in Spain and Western Europe, but globally, to learn more about our brand,” said Walter Ji, General Manager Huawei Spain and Portugal.
Without a major sponsor for much of the year, Atlético was able to sell the shirt rights to the Madrid Derby, having opted to retain them when agreeing an eight-game shirt deal, signed at the end of March, with Turkish-based Rixos Hotels Group until the end of the season.
Huawei is not the only Chinese brand to use La Liga as a marketing platform. Villarreal has a Chinese shirt manufacturer in Xtep and signed a similar one-game deal with Chinese website Sina Weibo in a match against FC Barcelona, broadcast on Chinese TV.
Last week Huawei struck a two-year, $1.7m shirt sponsorship deal with the Canberra Raiders National Rugby League club in Australia –a country where Huawei was recently banned from tendering for National Broadband Network contracts.
Australian security authorities considered that Huawei’s involvement could compromise national security.
Huawei is the second largest telecommunications company in the world behind Ericsson with annual revenue of $32 billion – and aims to be the biggest by the end of the year.
By Matthew Glendinning
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @mattglen