HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alipay, the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform, today revealed the trophy that will be awarded to the most prolific marksmen at the upcoming Nations League Finals, the first final tournament under an eight-year global partnership with UEFA.
The Alipay Top Scorer Awards, comprising Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies, will be presented to the leading goalscorers on June 9th in Porto, Portugal, where the tournament’s breathtaking finale will be held.
The design of the trophy draws inspiration from the first character in Alipay’s Chinese name, 支 (pronounced as zhi), which means support, as well as payment. The character reflects Alipay’s roots that trace back to 2004, when the company was founded as an escrow service to tackle the lack of trust between online buyers and sellers, facilitating online and offline commerce.
When written in the elegant 'small seal' script that fostered the sharing of culture and literature across central China’s warring states that were united by the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, the character also resembles the posture of a striker poised to shoot.
The intertwined strokes incorporate football, traditional Chinese culture and digital technology and, by capturing the fleeting moment of a barefooted striker in action, the trophy evokes the original beauty and power of football – a game that anyone can play, with just passion and a ball.
“The trophy’s unique and dynamic design is a fitting complement to the exciting atmosphere and football that we expect for the culmination of the inaugural Nations League Finals 2019,” said Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA’s Director of Marketing. “Fans from across the globe will have the chance to see some of the best European players in action and we are delighted that Alipay will be looking to reward those who show the greatest proficiency in front of goal.”
In November 2018, Alipay became UEFA’s Official Global Payment Partner, Official Global Digital Wallet and Official Global FinTech Partner, for men’s national team events, including UEFA EURO 2020, UEFA EURO 2024, the European Qualifiers and the UEFA Nations League Finals. Alipay is operated by Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate company of Alibaba Group Holding.
“We feel extremely honoured to present this trophy to recognise European football’s top scorers. The trophy embodies a number of future innovations and collaborations between UEFA and Alipay, between football and technology,” said Sabrina Peng, Chief Marketing Officer of Ant Financial.
Portugal, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands will contest the inaugural Finals in Porto and Guimaraes, Portugal between June 5 and June 9.
Check out this animation for further information on the design concept of the trophy.
About Alipay
Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently serves over 1 billion users with its local e-wallets 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 50 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 35 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.
