BEIJING, May 12 - The latest reports from Japanese sports newspapers indicate that the Japan Football Association (JFA) has recently signed an eight-year sponsorship agreement with advertising giant Dentsu, covering the period from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2030, for a total of 35 billion yen. The contract covers the period from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2030, and is worth a total of 35 billion yen. Together with the previous eight-year contract with Adidas, the JFA will receive a total of 51 billion yen in sponsorship.
The Japanese Football Association (JFA) senior revealed that with the increase in the number of participating teams in the next World Cup from 32 to 48, and the number of places in the Asian region increased from 4.5 to 8, the chances of the Japanese team not being in the World Cup are greatly reduced, which undoubtedly facilitates the team's search for sponsors.
However, Japanese soccer has not fared well in the last two World Cup qualifiers.In September 2016, under Halilhodzic, Japan went down 1-2 to the UAE in their first World Cup qualifier. In this World Cup qualifier, Japan lost 0-1 to Oman in their first match and 0-1 to Saudi Arabia in their third. However, Japan will still have plenty of time to adjust their strategy if the number of Asian qualification spots increases to eight.
It is reported that the sponsorship agreement between the Japanese Football Association (JFA) and Dentsu contains an additional clause: if the Japanese team does not qualify for the World Cup, the sponsorship fee will be cut by 10% to 20%, and at the same time, the image of the Japanese team will be much less attractive to sponsors. However, with the increase in the number of World Cup places in Asia, the possibility of implementing this clause is almost zero.
This huge contract is a rarity for the Japanese sports world. In the next few years, the JFA will receive more than 10 billion yen in sponsorship each year. However, for Japanese soccer, the key to the future lies not only in the ability to participate in the World Cup, but also in how to achieve good results in the World Cup.
