FIFA CCO Philippe Le Floc'h said that the "plethora" of Chinese companies backing this World Cup are "by no means just plugging a gap," according to Nick Mulvenney of REUTERS. China’s involvement this year has been "more marked than at any previous tournament," from the estimated 40,000 traveling fans to the tens of millions watching on TV at home and the "ubiquitous" Chinese advertising in stadiums around Russia. The latter is the result of an "unprecedented level of Chinese involvement in FIFA’s sponsorship programs," which have traditionally been "filled by more familiar multi-national brands from the West or Japan." Le Floc'h said that there "maybe" had been a time when western sponsors were "put off by the corruption scandal," but to ascribe the shift East in FIFA's sponsors "simply to that would be a mistake." He said, "We never spoke to anybody telling us, 'You know what, you guys are toxic. We don't want to work with you.' It's just that the economy wasn't that great, it's a heavy investment (and) you had a shift of world economy and some Asian companies, or Chinese in particular, are looking for the best vector of communication to push the drive to the world with a global footprint" (REUTERS, 7/8).
