Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1382687
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 JUNE 2021 OPINION WITH Euro 2020 now under way after a year of pandem- ic delay, football fans will be hoping for great performanc- es from Europe's finest play- ers. Some of us will watch the tournament unfold on our Hisense televisions, and many will choose to order in some half time refreshments, maybe via the Just Eat delivery service, possibly sent using a Vivo mo- bile phone. Sustained by cans of Heinek- en, as goals are scored, sup- porters will upload celebration clips on to TikTok. And after the final, what better way to re- charge than by arranging a hol- iday on Booking.com, perhaps flying on Qatar Airways. For while fans will have their eyes firmly fixed on the efforts of players worth billions of pounds on the field, another big money game will be taking place off it. The Euros is one of the world's biggest sport events, and a bonanza for cor- porate sponsors and partners (just a few of which are men- tioned above). In return for being exposed to the eyes of the world, Euros sponsors pay huge amounts of money. Just how much is dif- ficult to say, as fees are com- mercially sensitive data. But in one case – that of Alipay (part of the Alibaba empire) – it is believed the Chinese company paid £176 million for an eight year deal. UEFA has sold these deals in three ways: National Team Football Official Sponsors, Eu- ro 2020 Official Sponsors, and Euro 2020 Official Licensees. And the origins of the com- panies and brands sponsoring this year's event are a clear in- dication of how the beautiful game is valued by the corpo- rate world. Alongside UEFA partners such as FedEx and Konami, each of the national teams bring their own roster of spon- sors, which makes for quite a cluttered selection of brands competing for attention. There's England's £50 million, five-year contract with BT, for example, while the Ger- mans will bring Lufthansa to the tournament, Carlsberg will promote its association with Denmark and South Korea's Hyundai will be represented by the Czech Republic. The list goes on (and on). What is immediately clear is that although the UEFA Euro- pean Championship is a con- tinental tournament, its com- mercial reach is truly global. A significant number of sponsors are either not European or else have divisions that operate way beyond the borders of Europe. At the same time, the spon- sorship portfolio shows us that football is at the heart of the entertainment, lifestyle and digital economies. Gone are the days of motor-oil and of- fice photocopier sponsorships. Instead we see a profusion of drinks brands, confectionery products and airlines. In addition, the sponsorship of teams appears to go hand- in-hand with the promotion of national identity and national industry. "Brand Germany" for instance, is strongly represented by some of the country's most important corporations, includ- ing Adidas and Volkswagen. The appearance of Gaz- prom meanwhile, reflects the increasing use by nations of sponsorship as a geopolitical instrument. Indeed, the state owned Russian gas company has recently put its associa- tions with UEFA and others to influential use. Europe's own goal Equally, "Brand China" is now a major industrial and polit- ical power, and home to five of UEFA's biggest tournament sponsors (Alipay, Antchain, Hisense, TikTok and Vivo). Corporate America contin- ues to endure too, represent- ed by the likes of Coca Cola and IMG. The US has always been the home of contempo- rary sport sponsorship, and the country's businesses continue to derive significant commer- cial value from it. In fact, the underdogs in this big-money corporate competi- tion appear to be the Europeans themselves. For an event being staged in countries including England, Italy, Spain and Ro- mania, UEFA draws very few of its sponsors from the con- tinent. Instead, it is clear that organisations from China and the US have both the financial muscle and the tactical brains to successfully dominate the tournament. This reflects broader global trends which indicate the de- clining presence of European industry. European compa- nies account for a falling per- centage of global output. The market capitalisation of Euro- pean firms is way behind that of American corporations and is fast being caught by Chinese firms. And the world's techno- logical hot spots are found in places such as Shenzhen and Silicon Valley, not in Europe. Whether the footballing squad from France, Portugal or Switzerland lifts the trophy in July, there is no doubt that the UEFA tournament will be an on field triumph for Europe. But the forces of globalisa- tion, digitalisation and politi- co-economic change, reflected in the Euros' portfolio of spon- sors, will keep on playing long after the final whistle blows. And European industry could pay the penalty with a swift exit from the global industrial competition. theconversation.com Euro 2020 – a tournament where the big players come from China and the US Simon Chadwick & Paul Widdop Simon Chadwick is Global Professor of Eurasian Sport at EM Lyon Paul Widdop is Senior Lecturer in Sport Business, Leeds Beckett University The opening match of the Euro 2020 finals took place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Friday