AliExpress recruits David Beckham for Euro 2024

Ahead of the Euros, Alibaba has made English footballer David Beckham a global ambassador for its AliExpress platform

Cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress is sponsoring the UEFA Euro 2024 championship, which will be played at stadiums across Germany this summer. Beckham will front the ‘Score More with AliExpress’ campaign, appearing in TV ads. During the Euros, AliExpress is giving away prizes in its app for every goal scored.

Beckham is a popular figure in China. In 2013, he was named global ambassador for Chinese football and has visited the country numerous times. He has also visited in his capacity as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. More recently, he visited The Londoner Macao, a luxury casino resort on Macao’s Cotai Strip, where he has designed suites as part of his ambassadorship for the brand.

The Euros are also a popular event in China, where the UEFA Euro 2020 competition (which was actually held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) saw an increase in viewership of 43% compared to Euro 2016, according to UEFA.

While not as famous as Tmall and Taobao, AliExpress has become a key driver of growth for Alibaba over the past year or so.  Its international division recorded revenue growth of 45% year-on-year in Q1 2024.

Nevertheless, it is facing a strong challenge from PDD’s discount shopping platform Temu, whose sales topped US$5 billion in 2023, just one year after launch. Temu has also invested in sports marketing, reportedly spending more than US$14 million on two TV spots during Super Bowl LVII in February 2023.