The delayed UEFA European Championship is an example of the East’s growing presence in the post-COVID-19 global sponsorship market, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Considering the cross-border differences in economic recovery from COVID-19, those markets recovering at a faster pace will likely increase their market share in the global sponsorship industry as a result. China’s economy, for example, grew by 2% in 2020 and is expected to expand by 7.9% in 2021, while the European economy is expected to shrink by 3.8%, according to the World Bank.

Liam Fox, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The upcoming UEFA European Championships exemplifies the East’s growing influence in the global sponsorship market. Since the tournament was delayed by 12 months, UEFA have secured three new partners from the Eastern hemisphere, two of which have come from the Chinese market in smartphone provider Vivo and digital entertainment platform TikTok, while Middle Eastern airline Qatar Airways have also signed as a sponsor of the tournament.

“This takes the total number of Chinese sponsors for the tournament up to four, alongside Alipay, the Alibaba-owned online payment service, and Hisense, the consumer electronics manufacturer. Concurrently, there have been no new deals struck with the European market, according to GlobalData.

“These new deals make the tournament the most sponsored European Championship by Eastern hemisphere-based brands in history and this is a trend we expect to define the global sponsorship market moving forward.”