Fifa

Chinese consumer electronics brand Hisense signed as an Official Sponsor of World Cup 2018 in Russia last month in an eight-figure dollars deal.

Energy sector sponsorships are worth around €188m ($211.8m) per year based on research into the main deals involving brands that have some retail presence, that is to say, companies that provide electricity direct to homes or businesses.

Sports Sponsorship Insider has researched the sponsorship profiles of 18 international federations, highlighting the annual value of sponsorship to each federation, the top deals contracted and the other sponsor brands that comprise their portfolios.

Fifa has become the latest international beneficiary of the Chinese government’s mandate to improve football in the country and host a World Cup, with three major sponsorship deals either finalised or under discussion.

“Have you been to China recently?” I ask this because the question is really a kind of shorthand for a different sort of enquiry, that is to say: is your sports, brand or agency connected to the potentially vast quantities of money that will be spent on sport by both the public and private sector in China over the next few years?

Last week, Sports Sponsorship Insider listed the Top 40 biggest deals of 2015 by value over the lifetime of the contract. Looking ahead to this year, there are many more mega-deals to be made - deals that will surpass the $100m-plus mark that encompassed all but one of the 39 deals in our Top 40 of 2015.

Airline Emirates is understood to be in talks with another football property after the company announced it would end its relationship with Fifa at the end of 2014.

Raising global brand awareness and technology showcasing is key to Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot’s sponsorship strategy.

Kit manufacturers spent $396m (€289m) on deals with the 32 national teams competing at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in the year covering the tournament, Sports Sponsorship Insider can exclusively reveal.

Boston-based global insurance company Liberty Mutual Group has a diversified and varied portfolio of sponsorship assets and partnerships in 26 different markets around the world. Its Irish division is using an innovative sponsorship around Gaelic sports to show its commitment in a new market.

Fast food restaurant McDonald’s’ franchisee programme sees each store contribute a cash fee to the brand’s global sponsorships of the Olympic Games and the World Cup, Thomas Truttmann, head of sports at McDonald’s Europe told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Fifa marketing director Thierry Weil expects brands from five sectors to take up the majority of the federation’s new Regional Supporter sponsorships: insurance, telecommunications, railways/ground transportation, logistics and real estate.