SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UEFA and Alipay, the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform, operated by Ant Financial Services Group, are proud to announce a new eight-year global partnership for all UEFA national team football competitions from 2018 to 2026.
Alipay, with over 700 million active users in China, becomes the Official Global Payment Partner,
Official Global Digital Wallet and the Official Global FinTech Partner, for all men’s national team events, including UEFA EURO 2020 and UEFA EURO 2024.
Alipay’s first four-year cycle as a UEFA national team competitions sponsor will see them involved in a total of eight competitions, spanning 420 matches and having an estimated total live audience of 7.4 billion people.
Football fans from all over the world will experience top-quality national team football. As global leaders in digital financial technology and mobile payment, Alipay and Ant Financial aim to bring digital innovation to football fans, enhance their onsite experience and provide seamless payment and other services to fans in Europe and across the world.
“We are proud to announce this unique and groundbreaking partnership with Ant Financial and Alipay for UEFA’s national team competitions,” UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said.
“Alipay is at the forefront of digital payments and in association with its global partners, Alipay has unique connections with over 900 million users. We believe the partnership will further innovate the way in which UEFA engages with football fans around the world.”
“We will work closely with Alipay to provide a unique digital experience for the hundreds of thousands of football fans that will follow their teams during UEFA EURO 2020 across 12 countries, and in Germany at UEFA EURO 2024.”
Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ant Financial, said: “We are thrilled to work with UEFA to bridge the world through the common language of football. We will empower UEFA to engage with football fans around the world through digital platforms and help UEFA reach and interact with a potential audience of billions in Asia.”
“Alipay will offer digital payment experiences to football fans using mobile phones and other technology innovations both online and on-site. The innovation we will bring to the partnership will also allow fans to engage with their teams and show their support in completely new ways.”
“Alipay has been working with partners who share the same dream of bringing the world equal opportunities by providing inclusive financial services to individuals and SMEs. Together, Alipay and its global partners will connect fans from all over the world with the exciting UEFA national team competitions.”
“By partnering with UEFA, we hope to share the passion and happiness of football with more people across the world and bring them the benefits of digital life.”
The partnership was established with the support of China’s sports business market leader Shankai Sports.
About UEFA
UEFA – the Union of European Football Associations – is the governing body of European football. It is an association of associations, a representative democracy, and is the umbrella organisation for 55 national football associations across Europe.
Its objectives are, among others, to deal with all issues relating to European football, to promote football in a spirit of unity, solidarity, peace, understanding and fair play, without any discrimination on the part of politics, race, religion, gender or any other reason, to safeguard the values of European football. UEFA also promote and protect ethical standards and good governance in European football, maintain relations with all stakeholders involved in European football, and support and safeguard its member associations for the overall well-being of the European game.
About Ant Financial
Ant Financial Services Group is dedicated to using technology to bring the world equal opportunities. Our technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, security and computing. This empowers us and our partners’ ecosystem to serve the unbanked and underbanked, bringing more secure, transparent, cost-effective and inclusive financial services to individuals and small and micro-sized customers and small businesses worldwide.
Ant Financial has formed international partnerships with global strategic partners to serve local users in those markets, and we serve Chinese travelers overseas by connecting Alipay with online and offline merchants. Brands under Ant Financial Services Group include Alipay, Ant Fortune, Zhima Credit, MYbank and Ant Financial Cloud.
For more information on Ant Financial, please visit our website at www.antfin.com or follow us on Twitter @AntFinancial.
About Alipay
Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently works with over 200 domestic financial institution partners. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet, to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app.
In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers over 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 29 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies.
About CAA 11
CAA Eleven is the exclusive marketing agency of UEFA appointed to manage commercial rights to UEFA national team football competitions, including the UEFA Nations League; the European Qualifiers; the UEFA European Under-21 Championship; UEFA Women’s EURO and the UEFA European Futsal Championship.
