April 26 – FIFA has expanded its digital media footprint in China with the launch of an official FIFA WeChat account and a microsite in Mandarin, FIFAofficial.cn, in advance of its showpiece World Cup in Russia.
The governing body of the world game has found China a fertile market for sponsorship with three of its five World Cup sponsors coming from the country, as well as Wanda being one of the organisation’s main sponsors.
To boost engagement with Chinese fans, FIFA is launching a special online campaign, FIFA World Cup Wish, this week. Hosted on FIFAofficial.cn, the campaign will enable Chinese fans to share their wishes for the FIFA World Cup.
FIFA already has official accounts on the Weibo platform – @FIFA and @FIFAWorldCup. These accounts have returned the highest average engagement of any sports organisation on the microblogging site to date.
FIFA says that its microsite, FIFAofficial.cn, “is an extension of FIFA’s main information hub FIFA.com. It will provide Chinese football fans with news and video content related to all FIFA competitions, especially the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with match highlights from the 64 games, as well as original content produced specifically for Chinese fans.”
The WeChat platform will give fans more opportunities to follow the news and engage in football matters via the interactive features of the platform.
FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer Philippe Le Floc’h said: “FIFA is delighted to be making another step into the Chinese digital ecosystem. Through the inauguration of the FIFA microsite as well as the opening of FIFA’s account on WeChat, we are able to further engage with Chinese fans and create valuable connections with them around the beautiful game.”
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