By Terence Tsai and Nathen Tian

As the FIFA World Cup 2026 continues across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, global attention has once again turned to the business side of football. Although China has not qualified for the FIFA World Cup since 2002, its population remains one of the tournament's most important markets, and its companies some of its most high-profile sponsors.

From broadcasting rights and sponsorship deals to digital engagement and consumer spending, China continues to shape the business of global football despite being largely absent from the pitch.

In this article, CEIBS Associate Professor of Strategy and International Business Terence Tsai and Research Assistant Bowen (Nathen) Tian explore why China continues to matter to FIFA, how evolving consumer trends and globally ambitious companies are reshaping football’s commercial landscape, and what business leaders seeking global expansion can learn from this evolving relationship.

The Commercial Paradox of Global Football

In the sophisticated arena of global sports commerce, few paradoxes prove as illuminating as the persistent, high-stakes engagement between FIFA, the world governing body for association football, and the Chinese market. Superficially, China’s men’s national team has not qualified for the FIFA World Cup since 2002, and failing to qualify even for the dramatically expanded 2026 tournament. Yet, China remains one of FIFA's most strategically important markets.

Recent evidence includes a reported $60 million broadcast rights agreement with China Media Group and multi-layered partnerships with leading Chinese conglomerates such as Hisense, Lenovo, and Mengniu. The true contest of the World Cup extends far beyond the pitch into the vast commercial, technological, and strategic ecosystem that encircles it.

For seasoned business leaders navigating increasingly uncertain international markets, this offers a compelling case study in environmental contingency theory. Sustainable strategic success is driven not by short-term athletic results, but by aligning long-term corporate strategy with broader macroeconomic forces: demographic scale, economic duality, shifting consumer values, and national cultural ambitions. It also underscores the growing sophistication of Chinese firms, which are evolving from the pursuit of ad-hoc, transactional sponsorships to establishing robust, ecosystem-based global ones.

Scale, Economic Duality, and the Force of Aspiration: The Power of Sport in China

China's importance to global football has little to do with its national teams’ results on the pitch and everything to do with the scale of its market.

China’s macroeconomic football sector vividly demonstrates contingency theory in action: organisational success hinges on alignment with external environmental conditions rather than internal capabilities alone. Despite the national team's absence from the World Cup, China remains home to one of the world's largest football audiences, featuring immense demographic scale, sophisticated urban economies alongside rapidly evolving rural and regional ones, and a resilient consumer base sustaining intense interest.

Estimates suggest there are more than 200 million football enthusiasts across the country, with the broader sports economy reaching hundreds of millions of individuals across diverse income and geographic segments. This structure supports varied offerings, from premium urban experiences to accessible grassroots activities, creating unmatched operational depth.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar underscored this influence: Chinese viewers accounted for nearly half of global digital and social media viewing hours, with content reaching over a billion people. For tech-savvy millennials and Gen Z consumers, football is increasingly experienced through personalised, immersive digital engagement, and is consumed whether their own team qualified or not. Sports uniquely bridge socio-economic divides, enabling fans to join a global narrative while channeling collective pride. A strong Chinese performance in the future, for example, would amplify national esteem, akin to past Olympic successes, deepening emotional ties to the sport and its partners.

At the same time, broader lifestyle trends are strengthening football's commercial appeal in China. McKinsey’s 2025 Future of Wellness survey found that 94% of Chinese consumers rank personal wellness among their top daily priorities, far exceeding many Western benchmarks. Adoption of fitness apps, wearables (over 40% in key demographics), sports nutrition, and outdoor pursuits has surged, bolstered by national initiatives like Healthy China 2030. Mass participation in jogging, marathons, and urban races drives demand for apparel, wearable technology, and nutrition products. Corporate executives often lead this shift, integrating extreme sports or disciplined routines into their daily lives to build resilience, judgment, and work-life balance; this then cascades into corporate wellness programmes and extends premium trends across several markets.

For brands, this creates an opportunity to position football not simply as a spectator sport, but as part of a broader lifestyle centred on health, performance, and personal development. In dual economies, campaigns linking football excitement to personal fitness or recovery build enduring brand equity. As such, engagement is driven not only by match results, but also by vitality, national aspiration around fitness and wellbeing, and global participation. This mirrors the unique “enterprise gene” shared by leading Chinese firms: consumer-centric integrity paired with nimble adaptation.

Astute brands can integrate football into lifestyle stories, resonating with, for example, executives who run in the mornings or tackle endurance events at the weekend. Forward-thinking managers should develop integrated digital platforms and community initiatives nurturing well-being, transforming scale into committed participation and overcoming issues like broadcast time zones. Contingency logic demands this shift from passive viewing to active, lifestyle-driven involvement, yielding difficult-to-emulate value.

How China is Shaping FIFA’s Commercial Strategy

FIFA’s global commercial framework has evolved from its Western-centric roots toward a balanced, multipolar structure, with Asian, especially Chinese, markets gaining prominence. This mirrors a more general eastward shift in economic power and the need to address China’s scale, technological prowess, health priorities, and engagement.

The recent broadcasting agreement worth of $60 million between FIFA and China Media Group reflects this reality. Beyond television audiences, China offers access to exceptional digital reach and ecommerce opportunities. Chinese input into advertising and sponsorships drives integration of market preferences, such as wellness elements and cross-cultural content. Consumers and brands now co-shape the tournament experience. Health trends fuel demand for nutrition and recovery products, with short-form videos blending match highlights and fitness tips for busy professionals.

Chinese companies have also played a growing role in shaping the commercial experience across the ecosystem. Lenovo’s AI analytics and digital player replicas deliver data-driven insights for executive fitness regimens while enhancing operations. Hisense displays transform living rooms into interactive wellness spaces. Mengniu links dairy and nutrition to recovery and vitality, tapping protein needs among active consumers.

Ecosystem governance offers a powerful lens: deep relational networks and shared values (holistic health, collective pride) act as potent coordinators beyond contracts. FIFA shifts toward enduring partnerships.

Collectively, these partnerships demonstrate that China is no longer simply a market for global sport. It is increasingly helping shape how global sport is commercialised, consumed, and experienced.

Executives should view high-growth markets as collaborators in value creation. Dynamic capabilities, sensing wellness and aspiration shifts, seizing them through integrations, and reconfiguring offerings, separate winners from losers. Evaluation must extend beyond audience size to behavioral impacts, such as fitness uptake from campaigns.

The Rise of Chinese Influence and Cultural Representation

China's growing influence in football extends beyond consumers and corporate sponsors into human capital and symbolic representation. Referee Ma Ning’s selection for the 2026 World Cup highlights China’s growing governance presence. Renowned for his authoritative style, he officiated the 2023 AFC Asian Cup final and made history at the 2022 Club World Cup by verbally explaining a VAR decision to spectators and audiences. Amid the China national team’s absence, Ma has become a marketing phenomenon and pride vehicle in the country, amassing billions of social media views.

This visibility has translated into commercial value. Major Chinese brands, such as Lenovo, Hisense, and Mengniu have leveraged his credibility and neutrality in endorsement campaigns, demonstrating how influence in global sport now spans both institutional and individual levels. While the national team remains absent, Chinese companies, professionals, officials, and consumers continue to play an expanding role in the sport's global ecosystem.

How Chinese Companies Can Leverage the World Cup

For Chinese companies pursuing international growth, the World Cup serves as a strategic platform for international expansion.

Companies such as Hisense, Lenovo, and Mengniu have used their FIFA partnerships to increase international visibility, strengthen brand credibility, and connect with consumers across multiple markets simultaneously. In many cases, the value lies not only in exposure during the tournament, but also in the ability to create year-round campaigns, digital experiences, and local market perception.

Executives should align sponsorships with strategic goals, assess multifaceted outcomes (such as brand enhancement, innovation flows, wellness effects, pride), and deliver rapid omni-channel content. Stories featuring “executive athletes”, or high-level individuals such as Jack Ma, formerly of Alibaba and Pony Ma (Huateng Ma) of Tencent, incorporating disciplined sport (e.g. running, endurance training) into their daily routines, add authentic appeal.

Broader Strategic Implications for Business Leaders

The FIFA-China relationship offers several lessons for executives.

First, market importance is not always determined by competitive performance. China's influence on global football stems from the size and engagement of its consumer base rather than the success of its national team.

Executives should implement a robust market prioritisation matrix that evaluates high-growth international markets based on demographic scale, digital sophistication, wellness drive, and economic variety. As the China paradigm clearly shows, even non-qualifying market observers can evolve rapidly into active, highly engaged participants motivated by collective pride.

Second, forward-thinking enterprises must develop corporate partnerships with local relevance. Consumers increasingly respond to brands that connect with their values, lifestyles, and aspirations rather than relying solely on traditional advertising.

Finally, influence in global ecosystems often comes from participation beyond the core product itself. New prospects in women’s football, youth initiatives, and infrastructure can further expand opportunities. FIFA’s inclusivity resonates with China’s health and pride aspirations. Culture serves as powerful governance when centered on human advancement.

Conclusion: Why China Still Matters to the World Cup

China’s enduring importance to FIFA is no longer defined by what happens on the field. It is defined by its unmatched demographic power, consumer vitality, technological proficiency, commercial significance, wellness momentum, and dual-economy opportunities.

For FIFA, China represents far more than television audiences or sponsorship revenue. It is a strategic market helping shape the future of football's commercial ecosystem.

For Chinese companies, the World Cup offers something equally valuable: a global stage on which to build brands, engage consumers, and accelerate international growth.

This relationship converts sporting paradox into sustainable advantage through contingency fidelity, ecosystem cultivation, identity preservation, and human capability advancement.

In an era of customised consumption and rapid change, leaders build on deep passion. The dragon’s pitch beckons enduring value, on the field, in boardrooms, and in global corporate excellence.

Terence Tsai is Associate Professor of Strategy and International Business at CEIBS. His research interests include multinational corporations, sustainability strategy, environmental management, organisational theory (environmental adaptive theories) and Chinese management. Nathen Tian is Research Assistant at CEIBS.

References

AP News (2026) ‘FIFA finally seals World Cup broadcast deal in China at just $60M’, 15 May. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-fifa-china-tv-rights-c516a5e27392e6220afdb433351c5f9b (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

SportsPro (2026) ‘Fifa strikes ‘US$60m’ CCTV deal to avoid China blackout’, 18 May. Available at: https://www.sportspro.com/news/broadcast-ott/fifa-world-cup-2026-china-cmg-cctv-rights-deal-may-2026/ (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

McKinsey & Company (2025) ‘The future of wellness: Trends survey’, 29 May. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/future-of-wellness-trends (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

Radii China (2026) ‘FIFA World Cup Nearly Lost Half its Digital Audience: China’, 21 May. Available at: https://radii.co/article/world-cup-nearly-lost-half-digital-audience-chinese (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

Sports Business Journal (2025) ‘Hisense returns as FIFA World Cup sponsor in 2026’, 5 September. Available at: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/09/05/hisense-returns-as-fifa-world-cup-sponsor-in-2026/ (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

Lenovo (n.d.) ‘Lenovo & FIFA sponsorship’. Available at: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/sports-partners/fifa/ (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

Campaign Indonesia (2026) ‘Asian brands are targeting World Cup sponsorships’. Available at: https://www.campaignindonesia.id/en/article/yang-diincar-merek-asia-dari-sponsorship-piala-dunia/1960906 (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

Channel News Asia (2026) ‘Success-starved China fans adopt 'Card Master' referee as World Cup rep’, 10 June. Available at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/china-world-cup-referee-card-master-ma-ning-6172696 (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

AsiaOne (2026) ‘Ma Ning, 46, the unexpected star for deprived Chinese football fans at World Cup’, 12 June. Available at: https://www.asiaone.com/china/world-cup-2026-china-referee-ma-ning (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

The Mirror (2023) ‘VAR history made as referee explains his decision to crowd at Club World Cup’, 2 February. Available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/var-club-world-cup-trial-29119650 (Accessed: 15 June 2026).

Forbes (2026) ‘The Era Of The “Executive Athlete”: High Performance & Well-Being’, 7 May. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lucianapaulise/2026/05/07/the-era-of-the-executive-athlete-high-performance–well-being/ (Accessed: 23 June 2026).