Hisense named global partner of UEFA Euro championship

Hisense has become the first Chinese company to sponsor the UEFA European Championship, signing on as a global partner of UEFA Euro 2016.

The deal fills the final global partner position for the tournament and marks the first sponsorship agreement with a Chinese company in the championship’s 56-year history.

As part of the partnership, Hisense will organise a series of public viewing events across Europe during UEFA Euro 2016, which will be held in France from June to July.

The Chinese consumer electronics company also plans to invite 100 Chinese football fans to France as part of its campaign around the tournament.

The sponsorship extends beyond UEFA Euro 2016, with Hisense also backing other UEFA-organised national team football competitions until the end of 2017.

Those competitions include the European Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Futsal Euro 2016, the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2017 and UEFA Women’s Euro 2017.

Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events SA, said the tournament would give Hisense a major platform to continue its international expansion.

“We look forward to working closely together with them in a mutually beneficial partnership that will also further promote the best of European football to millions of fans in China,” he added.

UEFA Euro 2016 is scheduled to kick off in France on 10 June. The tournament is expected to attract an average live TV audience of 147 million per match and a total audience reach of 6.6 billion viewers across the month-long event, including 1.2 billion viewers from China.