Business Wire

ALIPAY

12.6.2019 16:24:11 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
UEFA Reinvents Digital Fan Engagement in China Through Alipay

UEFA has announced a new exciting partnership with Alipay, the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform, which is aimed at reinventing fan engagement experiences and bringing Chinese fans of European national team football even closer to the action than ever before.

The partnership comprises a UEFA lifestyle account that offers unparalleled insights into European national team competitions, as well as a mini-program where Chinese fans can apply for tickets in a simplified way to the upcoming EURO 2020. Both features are accessible within the Alipay app, the world’s most-used mobile app outside social apps. 1

The collaboration is the first of its kind for an international sports organization. The lifestyle account will act as a content hub for Chinese fans of national team football in Europe. Visitors to the platform will have the chance to read about all the latest developments in UEFA’s National Team competitions, as well being able to view exclusive content.

To complement Chinese fans’ digital experiences, the UEFA EURO 2020 ticketing mini-program - the first time that UEFA allows a digital ticketing channel outside UEFA.com worldwide - will be launched on the same day. Chinese fans can start applying for tickets from June 13.

“There is a real appetite amongst Chinese football fans for UEFA’s national team competitions, where they have the chance to see some of the best players on the planet in action,” said UEFA's director of marketing Guy-Laurent Epstein. “We want to be in a position to give our fans premium content in their own language and our new partnerships with Alipay allow us to do exactly this.”

The digital fan engagement solutions build on the existing partnership between UEFA and Alipay. In November 2018, the Chinese payment platform signed an unprecedented eight-year deal to become UEFA’s Official Global Payment Partner, Official Global Digital Wallet and Official Global FinTech Partner, for men’s national team events till 2026.

“We feel extremely delighted to be able to provide an innovative and inclusive solution in digital fan engagement, providing Chinese fans with more native experiences,” said Sabrina Peng, Chief Marketing Officer at Ant Financial. “Alipay has accumulated vast experiences in using mini-programs as a powerful tool to enable businesses in China and around the world. It is exciting to see the application being extended to football. We look forward to deepening the integration between football and technology in our partnership with UEFA in the next few years.”

Mini programs2 are light-apps that can be launched instantly on a main app interface, instead of having to be downloaded separately as native apps. They offer users faster access to various services as they can run from within the main app on any mobile operating system. There are more than 230 million active users accessing Alipay mini-programs daily for a variety of services ranging from finance and education to medical and transportation.

Over the next 12 months, UEFA will roll out a number of engaging and interactive digital activations and promotions on Alipay, which will bring Chinese and Asian fans closer to top European national team football than ever before.

About UEFA

UEFA – the Union of European Football Associations – is the governing body of European football. It is an association of associations, a representative democracy, and is the umbrella organisation for 55 national football associations across Europe. Its objectives are, among other things, to deal with all questions relating to European football, to promote football in a spirit of unity, solidarity, peace, understanding and fair play, without any discrimination on the part of politics, race, religion, gender or any other reason, to safeguard the values of European football, promote and protect ethical standards and good governance in European football, maintain relations with all stakeholders involved in European football, and support and safeguard its member associations for the overall well-being of the European game.

About Alipay

Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently serves over 1 billion users with its local e-wallets partners. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers over 50 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 35 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies.

1 Source: The State of Mobile 2019 , by App Annie
2 Further read on Alipay mini programs.

Contact:

Media Enquiries: Alipay Jing Yang yj196672@alipay.com +86 14716036560

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Kubota Vision Inc. Signs Supply and Licensing Agreement with Laboratoires KÔL for Stargardt Disease Treatment Candidate Under Compassionate Use4.5.2026 17:16:00 CEST | Press release

Kubota Vision Inc. (“Kubota Vision”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd. (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan) announced signing of a Supply and Licensing Agreement with Laboratoires KÔL (Clermont-Ferrand, France) for the provision of a Stargardt disease (STGD1) treatment candidate under compassionate use authorization. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260414590785/en/ The purpose of this Agreement is for Kubota Vision and KÔL to collaborate on providing “Emixustat” for treatment of Stargardt Disease (STGD1) through compassionate use authorization in France. Kubota Vision will exclusively manufacture and supply Emixustat final products to KÔL and KÔL will have exclusive rights to distribute Emixustat in France under compassionate use access. Ryo Kubota, Chairman, President, and CEO of Kubota Pharmaceutical Holdings, stated, “We are extremely pleased to enter into this Agreement with Labor

Incentive Market Set to Surpass $80B by 2030s — IMA Launches Tools to Help the Industry Keep Pace4.5.2026 16:28:00 CEST | Press release

With combined business spend on loyalty, employee recognition, and channel incentives projected to exceed $80 billion by the 2030s, the incentive industry is entering a period of rapid scale and strategic pressure. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422729016/en/ In response, the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) launched a new suite of resources designed to help incentive professionals navigate an environment that’s becoming more specialized, fragmented, and central to business performance. “It’s not just more money coming in—it’s more complexity,” said Vince Chiofolo, President of the Incentive & Engagement Solution Providers (IESP). “Buyers are demanding programs that evolve fast, integrate deeply, and feel personal at scale. These new tools were built for that.” IMA’s Suite of Tools Includes: New Industry Report — Inside the Incentive Buyer’s Mind Drawn from insights of 50+ program owners, the report f

Tigo Energy Breaks Global Growth Benchmark; Boosts U.S. Energy Feature in Predict+4.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Advanced energy prediction platform adds real-time energy pricing for North American Independent System Operator (ISO) customers, accelerates meters-connected growth. Tigo Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: TYGO) (“Tigo” or “Company”), a leading provider of intelligent solar and energy solutions, today announced that the Predict+ platform now offers integrated real-time spot market pricing for ISO customers in the United States. Predict+ provides utilities with deep insights into grid demand, renewable generation, and energy market dynamics, enhancing the precision, scalability, and robustness of energy forecasting to up to 97.5% accuracy through machine learning and artificial intelligence. For energy providers, Predict+ helps streamline operations, reduce volatility, and maximize performance. Predict+ empowers utility operators to adapt to real-world demand challenges when balancing renewable and baseload generation sources, particularly during extreme weather events and market disruptions. On th

Airship Announces 2026 Elevate Customer Experience Award Winners4.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Southwest Airlines, The Economist, and OneFootball among brands recognized at Elevate’26 Customer Experience Summit for setting the standard in mobile-first and AI-centered customer experiences Airship, the mobile-first customer experience company, today announced the winners of the 2026 Elevate Customer Experience Awards. Global brand leaders from The Economist, Southwest Airlines, and OneFootball were among those honored at the Elevate’26 Customer Experience Summit. The Elevate Awards spotlight global companies that have developed exceptional mobile-first customer experiences for their customers, created innovative campaigns, leveraged AI agents to reach new levels of productivity, and achieved real business results. "Evolving mobile-first consumer behaviors and unprecedented advancements in AI are driving a seismic shift that is reshaping how brands interact with their customers," said Brett Caine, CEO, Airship. "The 2026 Elevate Award winners aren’t just adapting, they’re leading t

Alnylam to Present New Analyses at Heart Failure 2026 Underscoring Consistent Clinical Profile of Vutrisiran in ATTR-CM4.5.2026 14:30:00 CEST | Press release

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced it will present new data analyses for vutrisiran in patients with the cardiomyopathy of wild-type or hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) at Heart Failure 2026, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology, taking place May 9-12, 2026, in Barcelona, Spain. ATTR-CM is a heterogeneous and rapidly progressive disease, and patients often present with complex clinical profiles. At Heart Failure 2026, Alnylam will present multiple new analyses from the Phase 3 HELIOS-B study of vutrisiran, which continue to support its use as a first-line treatment for patients with ATTR-CM, and further characterize its clinical profile across patients with a high disease burden, and in the context of concomitant therapies. Vutrisiran is the first and only transthyretin (TTR) silencer for ATTR-CM that delivers rapid knockdown of TTR at the source. Additional analyses being pr

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye