China’s soccer teams and their sponsors

It might not be that surprising, but many sponsors of major China local (provincial) soccer clubs in the Chinese Super League didn’t do well after naming the team.

Dalian Wanda and Dalian Shide were the names for Dalian’s soccer club. Dalian is only a city in Liaoning, but Dalian Shide was a strong team in the Chinese Super League. Dalian Aerbin is another club in Liaoning; the boss tried to acquire Dalian Shide.

More people might have heard about Evergrande. Evergrande purchased Guangzhou soccer club in 2010. Guangzhou Evergrande won seven consecutive Chinese Super League titles from 2011 to 2017.

Similar stories could be found for teams across cities/provinces, e.g. Jiangsu, Beijing, Shanghai, etc.

I am not sure if this is common globally. I can think about FTX, which sponsored the Mercedes F1 team and Golden State Warriors. But it’s not something consistently happening on the global stage.

Maybe it’s due to the business model. Property developers were very profitable and can benefit from broader audience with the clubs’ naming. Usually male watch those soccer matches more often, and those who have time and money to watch sports could be wealthier and thus homebuyers.