To appeal to Chinese audiences, top Brazilian football clubs are turning to Kwai, a short video social network like TikTok, which is keen to expand in South America using the world’s most popular sport.
Kuaishou is a video-sharing mobile app developed by Beijing Kuaishou Technology in 2011, with a particularly strong base among users beyond China’s Tier 1 cities.
Kwai has become one of the biggest investors in Brazilian football, aiming to increase its customer base and partnering with two of Brazil’s biggest clubs, Flamengo and Santos.
Kwai is now also sponsoring the major football competition in the continent, Copa America, as well as the Brazilian championship.
In early September, it announced a landmark agreement to support the Brazilian women’s and men’s teams.
According to the Brazilian press, the approach was enabled by a Brazilian sports executive, Michael Rocha-Keyes, at EMW Global.
With stars like Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), Eden Hazard (Real Madrid) and Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) in its portfolio, as well as former Brazilian players Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos, EMW Sports wants to close sponsorships for its customers in the Brazilian market, as well as to expand Brazilian brands in China.
The first club to join the customer base was Flamengo and the deal aims to generate awareness in China regarding the Brazilian club and generating new business through Kwai. A similar deal was later struck with Santos.
