Chinese Dairy Giant Yili Secures FIBA Partnership   

Asia’s largest dairy brand Yili has sealed a partnership with FIBA, the world’s basketball authority.  

The deal will see Chinese-owned company Yili with key commercial rights, including on-court branding at the prestigious FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 starting off in August. 

With basketball fandom prevalent in China, Yili is certain the collaboration provides an excellent opportunity to expand the FIBA brand across Asia even further and also help promote the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. 

Yili will be a co-presenter of the FIBA Basketball World Cup App and when the best basketball players in the globe step off the court and hit the bench, they will be handed Yili-branded towels when they are resting. 

“We are thrilled to be able to welcome Yili to the FIBA Family as our latest Global Partner. Being a brand leader in Asia would be of huge significance at any time, but especially taking into account the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in the region that has a combined population of over half a billion people,” said FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis.

“Yili also already has significant expertise and experience in sponsoring major sporting events and competitions, so we are confident this is a great partnership that will prove successful for both of us,” Zagklis added.

Meanwhile. Mr. Liu Chunxi, Executive President of Yili Group commented, “We are very happy to become a FIBA Global Partner and everyone at Yili is excited by the possibilities it provides, both in terms of being able to grow our brand and in helping to make basketball even more popular – something which we know is already growing at a rapid rate.

“The FIBA Basketball World Cup is one of the largest events in international sport and we are looking forward to helping to promote it and using such a big tournament to showcase our brand and products globally. It feels like a great fit for us,” Mr. Liu Chunxi added.

Yili will access all of the standard rights and benefits for FIBA Global Partners and have the right to use marks to promote the partnership on its own products, including sub-brands that are within the product category.

This agreement was brokered by FIBA Marketing, the strategic partnership between FIBA and Infront.

According to ASN data, Yili is the 3rd largest player ( 12.9%, ~US$179.9m)  for its category in the Asian sponsorship market since Q320. While branded content collaborations with TV shows tend to be some of its biggest spends, it does have significant deals in football and basketball.