Twenty sides from both LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 123 to are set to provide localised content on Sina Weibo, China´s biggest social media platform.

For the first time, LaLiga will generate content and directly manage the Sina Weibo accounts of twelve clubs. It will also provide content strategy and community management to all clubs seeking to broaden their presence in the Asian market.

LaLiga has also become the first European league to launch a mini-programme inside of Tencent’s WeChat, another huge social network in China.

For LaLiga’s Digital Strategy Director Alfredo Bermejo, providing this hands-on digital support is a necessary step to creating the strongest image of LaLiga and Spanish clubs in the region.

“Clubs are the heart of LaLiga. To help grow our presence we must help people to discover the clubs´ stories” he said. “Chinese consumers have shown growing interest in our competition but entering this market can be complex. Our team works closely with all clubs of LaLiga to provide assistance anywhere we can.”

The service is available to all clubs playing in Spain’s top two divisions. Currently LaLiga Santander teams such as Huesca, Levante, Eibar and Celta Vigo and LaLiga 1I2I3 clubs like Osasuna, Numancia, Cadiz, Albacete and Las Palmas are involved in the project. LaLiga has expanded its team of Chinese social media experts to offer the clubs this service.

Daily social media posts will be published by LaLiga on behalf of the clubs alongside significant coverage of match days. Following its ‘glocal’ approach to digital community building, LaLiga will begin by educating these new audiences about the clubs and their rich history in order to build a more engaged and loyal following.

LaLiga will also handle the process and costs involved in having the club accounts secure verified status in China. This will allow clubs to incorporate the new accounts into the popular Blinkfire tool, which provides analysis of all verified social media accounts across all social platforms.

Clubs will also be made aware of significant dates in the Chinese calendar and receive message suggestions to mark those occasions throughout the year.

LaLiga has been a social media resource for clubs for some time. The league’s services include quarterly updates for clubs on the various platforms and best practices. LaLiga also provides assistance with translations, account monitoring, opportunities to interact with notable influencers and expansion into new territories.

The growth of the Spanish league itself on social media in China has been in evidence for the past three years and in recent months LaLiga has added its presence to the Toutiao and Douyin networks. The arrival of star players like Wu Lei to RCD Espanyol de Barcelona also creates significant new opportunities for visibility and growth in 2019.

Offline, LaLiga also holds growing business relationships with the Chinese Football Association and Chinese Super League, among others.

For audiences in China that have shown a continued and ever-increasing interest in football, the launch of additional social media channels, coupled with the opportunity to follow Chinese players in Spain, will create many new opportunities to absorb information from the game in Spain.

The exploration of new platforms and media strategies for both China and beyond is set to continue within LaLiga, giving the clubs playing in the competition even more opportunities to increase their international expansion.

The new WeChat mini-programme is designed to be a central location for Chinese fans to grow their knowledge of Spanish football and share their experiences. By opening the mini-programme, WeChat users can receive current LaLiga news in Chinese, watch videos of classic LaLiga moments and access a ‘LaLiga Experience’ space featuring verified user images and memories from across the stadiums of LaLiga.

LaLiga continues to expand its digital presence in China and opportunities for further growth will be boosted by the signing of Chinese star Wu Lei by RCD Espanyol de Barcelona. Now, all Spanish clubs will have the opportunity to follow the league’s methods and create their own profiles in the country, improving the internationalisation of Spanish football.

To provide increased levels of engagement, the mini-programme allows users to select their favourite LaLiga team on their profile page and receive relevant notifications about match results and news. It will also offer a weekly predictions game with prizes on offer. By browsing through the game week fixtures and guessing the correct score, users can build points that are displayed on a weekly leader board. These points can later be exchanged for official LaLiga merchandise.

Mini-programmes have become a hugely popular feature of WeChat with over one million already created on the app. LaLiga’s presence here is an important part of its plans to improve access to Spanish football in China and to create a stronger following in the country. To help with these efforts, LaLiga broadcasters and sponsors in China will also display their offers through the mini-programme.

The WeChat app has become a one-stop location for Chinese consumers to chat, consume news, book appointments and make payments. LaLiga already has a large brand presence on WeChat, where it provides daily news articles from the league.

To support the launch of the new mini-programme, LaLiga will be creating new posts in the ‘moments’ section of WeChat and providing a QR code to access the mini-programme directly.

Check out some enjoyable examples of LaLiga players communicating with their Chinese fans here.

DS TECHEETAH has today announced that global payment and risk management solutions specialist AFEX has joined the team as a new partner for Season Five to Seven of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

AFEX’s logo will adorn the DS E-TENSE FE19 from the Hong Kong E-Prix onwards.

Keith Smout, DS TECHEETAH Chief Commercial Officer: “We’re delighted to welcome AFEX to DS TECHEETAH. As an international racing team operating globally, we’re always dealing in various currencies throughout the year so to have a partner on board that can facilitate and ease our transactions is really fantastic.”

“We are focused on winning on track but also building our Business to Business platform. Our team partners and in fact all FE partners can benefit from AFEX’s financial solutions.  AFEX will join us from the Hong Kong E-prix onwards so we are looking forward to welcoming their brand to Formula E”

Wayne Mitchell, General Manager EMEA at AFEX: “We’re excited to partner with the DS TECHEETAH Formula E Team to facilitate their global transactions, and to join their Business to Business platform. As the Formula E Championship winners, DS TECHEETAH represent the integrity, ambition, and forward thinking that AFEX stands for. We look forward to launching our partnership at this weekend’s Hong Kong race.”

AFEX has been offering its customers aid with global payments since its inception in 1979. As one of the world’s largest non-bank providers of foreign exchange solutions, it serves more than 35,000 commercial and private clients around the world.

Providing a suite of customisable, cost-effective FX hedging tools, the dedicated and FCA authorised account executives are on hand to help manage currency risk. AFEX also offers 24/7 access to its market leading online payment platform, AFEXDirect.

(Report by The Associated Press)

FIFA’s cash reserves soared to a record $2.74 billion and revenue climbed to $6.4 billion in the four-year period covering the 2018 World Cup, The Associated Press has learned.

The robust financial results suggest FIFA has weathered the deepest crisis in its history, which erupted in 2015 when a United States-led criminal investigation led to the arrests and later convictions of high-ranking officials on corruption charges. FIFA President Sepp Blatter also was deposed as FIFA president in a financial misconduct case that left the governing body’s reputation in tatters and caused a backlash from sponsors.

After being elected as Blatter’s successor in 2016, Gianni Infantino said that “FIFA was clinically dead as an organization.” Although Infantino’s leadership has come under criticism from within European governing body UEFA, Infantino will be able to show the budget is in a healthy state, and he is due to be re-elected unopposed in June for a four-year term.

The 2015-18 finances obtained by the AP exceed the forecasts presented to the FIFA Congress last June. While FIFA projected cash reserves to increase to $1.653 billion in the 2018 World Cup cycle, they had grown to $2.74 billion at the end of 2018, according to people with knowledge of the finances. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the financial results remain confidential.

FIFA’s reserves at the end of the 2014 World Cup cycle were $1.523 billion after generating $5.718 billion after the tournament in Brazil.

Amid of corruption crisis of 2015, FIFA modestly targeted raising $5 billion by the end of the Russia World Cup, a projection later raised to $6.1 billion. Those expectations were eclipsed when the four-year cycle ended with revenues of $6.4 billion, according to the people with knowledge of the financial report, which shows profit of around $1 billion.

The record revenue was achieved despite FIFA not filling its full slate of sponsors for the 2018 World Cup. Several sponsors did not renew after the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, an opponent of Infantino in the 2016 vote, had warned Infantino’s plan to increase payouts to member associations would “bankrupt” FIFA, but that has not transpired.

In the 2011-14 World Cup cycle, FIFA’s accounts showed just over $1 billion was spent overall on development projects with $538 million going to the Financial Assistance Programme for national associations and confederations.

In the 2015-18 cycle, investment dedicated to FIFA’s new Forward development program was $1.079 billion of which $832 million had been approved and committed to member associations, confederations or regions by the end of last year, according to a financial document seen by the AP.

Between May 2016 and December 2018, 941 specific projects were funded in 179 of the 211 member associations at a cost of $270.3 million. There are a range of handouts: from $30,769 to train female football administrators in South Africa to $2.25 million on youth development in Peru.

FIFA proclaims it has far more rigorous system of financial controls designed to guard against further corruption scandals. FIFA rejected 201 of the 1,978 funding applications received in the four-year cycle.

FIFA is also trying to secure backing to expand the Club World Cup and develop a Global Nations League, a mini-World Cup for national teams, to further boost revenue. But Infantino’s hopes of obtaining $25 billion in guaranteed finances from backers, including Japan’s SoftBank, have stalled over European opposition to the formats and funding.

Even without that additional income, FIFA said in its financial report that the success of the 2018 World Cup has provided “strong financial resources” to enable it to raise Forward funds by $667 million to $1.746 billion in the 2019-22 cycle.

Each member association can apply for up to $6 million over the 2019-22 cycle, while each of the six confederations receives $48 million. In addition, $62 million is available for zonal or regional associations if they organize at least five youth and women’s competitions per year.

News of the soaring FIFA reserves comes amid ongoing questions about the lack of parity for World Cup prize money between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

France earned $38 million from FIFA for winning the men’s World Cup last July but the women’s champion this July will earn $4 million.

That is double the amount collected by the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2015, a rise in line with the overall prize money jumping to $30 million.

The fund for the World Cup in Russia rose 12 percent to $400 million and that jumps to $440 million for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

FIFA has acknowledged concerns of female players about the financial disparities while pointing to funding to grow the women’s game.

“The vast majority of women’s football players across the world are still amateur,” Sarai Bareman, FIFA’s Chief Women’s Football Officer, said when the prize money for France was agreed last year. “That’s the most important thing for us. If we want to build the whole ecosystem of the women’s game it has to start there.”

Asked if the reserve figures were disappointing in relation to the World Cup prize money, U.S. coach Jill Ellis said: “For sure, 100 percent. Obviously I don’t know what’s in anyone’s bank statements but you want to make sure there is a fair apportionment of winnings going out. So yeah, absolutely.”

Infantino is costing FIFA less than his predecessor.

Infantino last year earned a salary of $1.9 million and a bonus of $550,000, according to one of the people with knowledge of the finances. Infantino earned $1.61 million in 2017 without a bonus.

Blatter’s basic salary of $3 million in 2015 was topped up by an $11 million contractual bonus for the 2010 World Cup and $12 million for the 2014 edition. His contract included a $12 million performance bonus he would have earned had he completed a 2015-19 presidential term.

The Sports Think Tank recently published a provocative piece on about the gender gap between pay for male and female athletes.

We highlight for you here some striking disparities between the earnings of the stars in arguably the world’s two most popular team sports, football and basketball.

The research by Boost took the annual earnings of top male and female athletes. These were then divided by the number of minutes each player had spent competitively participating in their sport, giving an earnings-per minute-figure.

By eliminating sponsorship agreements and endorsements from the research, the analysis purely covers the time the players spend doing their jobs.

In football, the figures compare Lionel Messi of Barcelona and U.S. Olympic and FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Alex Morgan.

In basketball, the NBA and WNBA stars are Stephen Curry of the Golden Stats Warriors and Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks.

The Sports Think Tank was created to help develop the link between academic research and decision-making in sports policy. The Co-Directors are Member of Parliament Andy Reed and Mark Balcar, who was a previously a civil servant in the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport.