Adidas renews major agreement with CFA

Under the terms of the deal, the sports shoe and apparel maker, whose alliance with the CFA stretches back to the beginning of Deng Xiao-ping's open door policy in 1979, will continue its commitment to making China one of the world's leading soccer powers as well as emphasising the grassroots development of the sport.

Adidas China marketing director Paul Pi said: "The commitment includes a financial investment plus providing special services including equipment, training and planning the development of the sport in coming years in addition to growing the game at the grassroots level."

He declined to reveal the dollar amount of the investment, but did say that the renewal of the agreement was not a fait accompli, despite adidas' long relationship with the CFA.

"Our partners (the CFA) were also talking to our competitors, but the most recent talks did lead to a renewal," Pi said.

The new agreement is seen as significant since it will last until 2010, which will mean major sponsorship opportunities with the national men's and women's soccer team at the women's World Cup in the United States this year and the competition in China in 2007, the men's World Cup in Germany in 2006 and men's and women's squads at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Pi said that adidas would be building on the successes that China had achieved over the past few years, including qualifying for the World Cup for the first time last year.

He added that adidas, which is also a partner to soccer's world governing body FIFA, will be launching a global campaign in the summer ahead of the women's World Cup.

This campaign, Pi said, would centre around the spirit of women's football.

Adidas' commitment with the CFA even goes to the level of sending referees to major footballing powers for training, Pi said.

"China is becoming a soccer power and these plans are aimed at ensuring that the country is able to win major trophies at the national and club levels," Pi said.

Adidas' last major national China soccer campaign kicked off last year as the World Cup in Korea and Japan got underway.

Called the 'Numbers' campaign, the ads featured ordinary people from around the country wearing the new, adidas China national team shirt.

Adidas is also a sponsor at the club level, supporting Dalian Football Club, which has won five national championships over the past decade.

In addition, it has a co-operative agreement with the Chinese Basketball Association, although the pact is not exclusive.

At the club level, it sponsors the Shanghai Sharks, the team that Yao Ming played for before joining the NBA last year.