Prada Zooms In On Sport Partnerships In China 

Italian luxury brand Prada has amped up the glamourous stakes of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup by backing the Chinese women’s national football team.

Unlike most luxury brands which focus on non-sport celebrity endorsement deals, Prada has been moving into the sporting world with its recent sponsorship moves in China .  Besides backing the team dubbed the ‘Steel Roses’ financially, Prada will also provide outfits for the twenty-three players of the team for their official engagements. 

China’s women’s national team currently sits in 14th place in the FIFA world women’s teams ranking, having won the Asian Cup in 2022. 

“China’s women’s football team has forged a global reputation and is a source of inspiration for young female athletes, focusing public and institutional attention on a democratic and inclusive sport,” added Prada in a press release.
 
Following the World Cup, the partnership will continue for the 2023 Asian Games, scheduled in China in September, and for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Apart from the ‘Steel Roses’, the Italian luxury brand also has deals with Chinese basketballer Shuyu Yang and table tennis star Ma Long. With scandals rocking the celebrity endorsement world, sport related partnerships are turning out to be a wiser play in the competitive Chinese sponsorship market. 

According to ASN data, Prada’s latest deal with the ‘Steel Roses’ is valued at US$1m, its biggest deal in the Asian sponsorship market, and has seen the luxury brand invest US$690k for Q323, more than doubling its quarterly investment of US$301k since Q420.