Huawei in sport: can clubs afford to get shirty with controversial sponsorship deals?

“Sport is a very important part of our brand strategy, where we have partnered already with some of the biggest clubs in the world,” said Wang Dexian, the chief executive of Huawei Technologies Netherlands. That comment was made at the announcement of the company’s relationship with Ajax – “one of the most successful football clubs in the world ever” – and their home ground, the Amsterdam Arena, back in 2014. Huawei made no bones about wanting to be associated with the best. “When we asked who was the best team in Mexico, everyone said Club America,” said Huawei’s Zachary Jiang. So Huawei went and signed a deal with them and got the brand’s logo front and centre of those famous canary yellow jerseys. The list of sporting partners that Huawei amassed over recent years amounts to some of the biggest names in the global game such as Arsenal, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Turkish side Galatasaray, Borussia Dortmund and Benfica in Europe. In Africa they have Ajax Amsterdam’s sister side in, Ajax Cape Town, and in Asia, Huawei has sponsored the AFF Suzuki Cup. Then there’s Colombian champions Independiente Santa Fe, Club America and both Boca Juniors and River Plate in South America. The Buenos Aires giants contested the Copa Libertadores, the biggest game on the continent, last year and it was River who lifted the trophy with the Huawei logo on the sleeves of their iconic sash shirts. When the deal with River was announced, Huawei’s Zhang Zhe said that “the sports sponsorships we are carrying out on a global level help us to get closer to our consumers. It lets them feel that Huawei is a local brand.” More interesting was his follow up statement. “We identify with Argentinean football, as the company shares its values: the passion and professionalism which characterise it.” Argentine football is notoriously chaotic with clubs linked to quasi-criminal gangs, there is no coincidence that the Copa Libertadores second leg had to be played in Madrid after crowd trouble stopped it going ahead in Argentina. Realistically, by being associated with success, Huawei have been big winners. Now though, with the accusations of spying for the Chinese state and the spectre of criminal proceedings in the US, these deals are under scrutiny. Can clubs afford to be associated with a brand so mired in controversy? More importantly, can they afford not to? While the wider world is worried about national security, Huawei has offered clubs financial security. That is the case for the New Zealand-based Australian A League side Wellington Phoenix. They hope to be playing in Australia’s top flight for “many, many, many years to come”, but that comes at a cost. Their recent deal with Huawei expired at the end of last season but the club has made it clear that whatever happens they have been reliant on that money, which at the time of signing was the largest ever sponsorship deal in New Zealand football. “Without that partnership, I’d hate to think where the club would be this year and in the last couple of years,” the club’s general manager David Dome told Stuff. “Obviously, there are some pretty significant geopolitical challenges to that partnership. Now I don’t know where that’s going to land. I don’t think anybody knows, to be honest with you. It’s hugely disappointing that it’s turned into a political football.” FT: Club America 3, Seattle 1 (agg. 5-3) More disappointment for @SoundersFC & @MLS, but at least those kits are ! pic.twitter.com/d9S9qGvehq — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 3, 2016 Aside from keeping the club afloat, the Huawei deal also allowed them to bring English Premier League teams to New Zealand and also send a team to play at the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens. They were joined there by another Huawei sponsored team, Atletico Madrid, who play in a domestic competition, La Liga, that is also Huawei sponsored. Plenty of football stadiums are also Huawei connected, form Borussia Dortmund’s It’s not just football. There’s the Norwegian Ski Federation, TV show Hockey Night in Canada and the AFL’s Gold Coast Suns. The National Rugby League’s Canberra Raiders are unapologetic about their association with Huawei, which dates back to 2012 and even spoke out to rubbish rumours that the deal only existed for the Chinese to get access to public officials in the Australian capital. “We are proud to carry their logo on the front of our jersey and our relationship has been nothing but positive from the first season they were with us until now,” club chief executive Don Furner told the Associated Press in February. “We would love to keep Huawei on board as sponsor,” he added ahead of negotiations of extending the deal. It is usually the sponsors doing the ditching. No matter how high-profile, indiscretions have done for some of the biggest names – ask Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong. @PhilHecken @UniWatch The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks have a large "Huawei" ad on their cap. Coca-cola on the sleeve pic.twitter.com/kARXDuLiAg — Graveyard Baseball (@GraveyardBall) May 10, 2016 But there will no doubt be increased calls for these teams and stadiums to drop Huawei as more questions are asked. How can they not be when an increasing number of countries are banning Huawei from their 5G networks and so many countries are politically in thrall to the US? Japan’s reigning baseball champions the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks ditched Huawei ahead of the new season and more will surely follow. Sport is not meant to be political but corporate sports washing has further muddied that line. The question is can sport afford a conscience?