China’s football "boom couldn’t have come at a better time for FIFA," according to BLOOMBERG. After "vocal criticism from top U.S. and European sponsors, FIFA has found new friends -- and financial support -- in China." Prominent business leaders, eager to make China a football power, have "embraced the sport's governing body, undeterred by the crisis that just last week brought new revelations of corruption and self-dealing." Since the first wave of football-related arrests more than a year ago, "FIFA has added only two top-tier sponsors, both Chinese companies." A unit of Alibaba Group became the title sponsor of the Club World Cup in Dec. '15. Three months later, Dalian Wanda Group Co. became a FIFA sponsor "at the highest level," paying $150M per four-year World Cup cycle. FIFA still "wants to add another pair of nine-figure partners," and FIFA Marketing Dir Thierry Weil said that those "could also go to Asian companies, possibly by the end of the summer." Meanwhile, FIFA's western sponsors, led by Coke and adidas, "made loud, public demands for changes." Weil: "The sponsors have definitely not been happy. They put a lot of pressure on us, and in that way helped to achieve what FIFA has achieved." Barclays Plc. Global Sponsorship Head Nathan Homer said, "It’s more of a challenge for businesses based in the traditional Western markets, where media scrutiny and public expectation and values are very different from other places" (BLOOMBERG, 6/7).
