Alibaba renews deal for Club World Cup

Its cloud computing arm aims to enrich viewing experience

Alibaba Group has renewed the partnership with Fifa as one of the sponsors for Club World Cup.

In 2015, Alibaba E-Auto, an ‘Internet car’ brand owned by the Group, had signed a deal with Fifa to present the Most Valuable Player award until 2022. Now, Fifa has renewed a seven-year deal with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of the Group.

Simon Hu, Senior VicePresident of Alibaba Group and President of Alibaba Cloud, told Gulf News that the Group aims to leverage its technology to bring more high-tech elements to Fifa through a range of initiatives and bring a more interactive and smooth multimedia game-viewing experience to viewers.

“We are striving to make technology more inclusive to benefit more people’s dayto-day life and well-being. We hope to show how our technology can bring new aspects of fun and enjoyment to fans of sports, including those people who might have had barriers to access or participate before,” he said. This year’s tournament will be hosted by the UAE from December 6 to 16, where seven teams will play eight matches taking place at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain’s Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium for the title of World Club Champions. The UAE also hosted the tournament in 2009 and 2010.

Long-term partnership

Hu said that Alibaba Cloud provides technological support and cloud services to leading international sports organisations and tournaments.

In January this year, Alibaba Group entered into a long-term partnership for Alibaba Cloud to be the official cloud services provider for the Olympic Games through 2028.

“Alibaba Cloud will provide cloud computing infrastructure and cloud services to help the Olympic Games operate more efficiently, effectively and securely, including by supporting big data analytics requirements,” he said.