Early footage of AFC Cup matches
First, many years ago, the Football Association Cup used to be the "National Football Championship", "National Football Winner's Cup" and other names have been held several times. Although the timing of the matches seems to be irregular now, and the level of the matches can hardly be said to be excellent, its historical significance is very far-reaching, and it caused a national soccer boom, so that people began to flock to the soccer field to pay attention to the soccer matches, and sowed the initial seeds for Chinese fans.
In 1995, with the reform of the professionalization of Chinese soccer, the development of the FA Cup entered a new stage. At that time, several giants of Chinese soccer, Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Shandong Luneng, took turns to discount the AFC Cup. Nowadays, famous fans of players such as Fan Zhiyi, Xie Hui, Gao Gao Hongbo, Li Xiaopeng, and Su Maozhen also started to represent their teams to stand out in the AFC Cup. Later, South Korean Lee Jang-soo, who became a famous coach, also came to China at this stage and led Chongqing and Qingdao, who won the F.A.C. Cup in 2000 and 2002, to accomplish a good story.
Lee Jang-soo's tears as he leads Chongqing to win the AFC Cup
However, in 2007, the AFC Cup was suspended for four years, and it was not until 2011 that it was reinstalled. Happily, the reinstalled AFC Cup gained a new life and began to attract amateur teams to participate in the competition, becoming a top-level platform for "national soccer" across the four levels of the Chinese Super League, Chinese League A, Chinese League B and amateur leagues.
That's why at this stage the old giants such as Evergrande, Luneng and Guoan have won the cup many times, but also left behind the highlights of small-market teams such as Guizhou People, Likely Evergrande, Suzhou Dongwu, and Shanghai SIPG Super Penalty Shootout. Even in the past three years, the AFC Cup has not stopped, and the promotion of Chinese soccer has continued until now.
Promoting national soccer and encouraging dark horse teams
Showing the real charm of soccer
It is important to note that with the FA Cup's concept of "National Football" - Gameforall - covering more and more low-level teams, Chinese A, Chinese B and even amateur clubs, thousands of players have the opportunity to play against high-level players and come to a 10,000-strong stadium to showcase their talents. The concept of "FA Cup" covers more and more low-level teams, Chinese A, Chinese B and even amateur clubs. It can be said that the AFC Cup has become an important ecological channel connecting grassroots soccer and professional soccer in China.
In recent years, the "village BA", which attracts villagers from eight villages, has attracted a lot of media attention. In fact, as early as 2016, the Football Association Cup in the small town of Wu Chuan was packed with people. Due to the hot weather in the coastal area of Guangdong, many local fans came to the stadium with umbrellas to cheer for the home team. Thousands of fans even stood in the square to watch the game live on the big screen during the week's matches. This shows that simple Chinese fans still love the sport deeply.
Wuchuan's home atmosphere was extremely hot.
In order to encourage more young people to participate in soccer, the AFC Cup has also partnered with former sponsor Yanjing Brewery to carry out a public service program called the "Seed Program". The program, which began in 2014, donates 100 soccer balls per match to key soccer schools in the home match area. By the beginning of 2023, the "Seed Program" has donated 43,800 soccer balls to 2095 primary and secondary schools and youth training institutions, enabling the FA Cup and soccer to spread widely among young people around the world.
Yanjing Brewery won the "China Social Responsibility Charity Award" and "Social Responsibility Practice Pioneer Award" for this public welfare activity, and became a classic case of long-term marketing for sponsors of the FA Cup through the "Social Responsibility Public Welfare Activity". This is a classic case of creating long-term marketing for sponsors through the "Social Responsibility Charity Activity" of the FA Cup.
The Seed Project to get more young people into soccer.
1,000 people may have 1,000 answers to the question of what is the greatest attraction of soccer, but "unpredictability" definitely gets the most votes. Just as the legend of David overthrowing Goliath has been celebrated for thousands of years, any country in the world would love to see the miracle of the underdog winning against the strong. On the pitch, the English FA Cup and Spanish Copa del Rey are never short of stories of BC teams beating Manchester United and Barcelona.
Jingchuan Wenhui knocked out Beijing Guoan in cold weather
The Chinese FA Cup is also a marvel. In the 2022 tournament, for example, Pingliang, Gansu province's Chinese Championship team Jingchuan Wenhui knocked out Beijing Guoan in the second round, breaking the biggest cold streak of the 2022 FA Cup. In the second round, China B team Jinan Xingzhou beat Changchun Yatai 1-0, and finally succeeded in this year's top eight of the AFC Cup, winning the "Dark Horse Award". According to Sports Big Business, the "Dark Horse Award" was also designed and born for partners since 2014. This not only encourages the dark horse team, but also gives the sponsor more exposure and popularity, killing two birds with one stone.
Deepen the commercial value of the tournament and combine Super Bowl interests
Looking forward to more partners
According to the latest announcement from the CFA, the 2023 FIFA Cup will begin on May 17 and end at the end of November. Throughout the year, 64 teams participated in seven rounds of 63 matches, initially returning to the scale of 2019. It can be said that after three years of trials and tribulations, the FA Cup is finally back on track. The staff of Ford Bao, who is responsible for the preparation and investment of the FA Cup, told Sports Big Business that in their assumptions, by 2025, the FA Cup will have more than 100 teams participating in it and the total number of matches will be more than 100.
The 2023 FA Cup is about to begin.
According to the data provided by Sofri, the leading broadcast TV audience research organization in China, the live TV and new media webcast of the AFC Cup has reached 86.13 million people in the 2022 season, and the value of the all-media exposure has reached RMB 215 million. It is foreseeable that if the scale of the competition continues to expand, the commercial value of the AFC Cup will be worth looking forward to.
According to sports business, in the new season, Ford Bowl (www.chinafootball.com.cn) new cycle of the FA Cup commercial cooperation program is being launched. In addition to portrait rights, stadium advertising and other basic commercial rights and interests, will also plan to launch a series of customizable activation of marketing products, including "national soccer" - Gameforall "ColorBallllllllll as the core of the brand of soccer around the world and traditional culture collision, trophy tour, full of family properties. The trophies will be displayed on a tour of the city, with a full range of parent-child attributes. The city Vlog, etc.. The event will not only enhance the social value of the FA Cup, but also its commercial value; it will also be combined with the highly acclaimed Super Cup model, combining the tournament with performing arts performances through cool sound and light shows, creating a more fashionable cross-border atmosphere and gaining more young viewers.
Sponsors such as Yanjing Beer and Chevrolet.
Tailored exposure scenarios
With the April 8, China's first soccer king against the "Super Cup" fire (see: Wuhan three towns to win the Cup, sound, light, electricity special effects burst Huanglong! This Super Cup "restarted" Chinese soccer), Ford Bao will also develop the commercial resources of the FA Cup and Super Cup, and launch the overall business plan from the base of the "National Football" tower to the "King's Rivalry" pyramid. We welcome more brands and partners to join this soccer event.
Beijing Guoan ended up fighting Meizhou Hakka in a 1-1 draw in their opening match at the new industrial stadium on the evening of April 15, which seemed to herald a stable start to the new year for Chinese soccer. The other good news is that fans no longer need to wear masks on the subway when they go home.
