David Beckham, the former England captain, has signed a deal to become a global ambassador for AliExpress, an online retail platform that is owned by Chinese technology giant, Alibaba. The announcement of the deal coincides with the start of the Euros football tournament in Germany next month. Beckham will be the face of AliExpress’ Score More promotion, which will run during games. While the company did not reveal how much it is paying Beckham, AliExpress previously agreed an exclusive e-commerce platform partnership with UEFA, European football’s governing body.
Many other Chinese companies are also sponsoring the tournament, including electric vehicle maker BYD and electronics giant Vivo. Since his retirement from football over a decade ago, Beckham has been associated with numerous brands and major sporting events. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, David and his wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl and fashion designer, have a fortune of £455m ($581.6m) combined.
UEFA is expecting the Euros to be the biggest sporting event of the year, with a total of 2.7 million tickets being sold for the competition, which will take place from 14 June to 14 July across 10 cities including Munich and Hamburg. In 2020, the Euros had a total global live TV audience of 5.2 billion, with 328 million people watching the final, which England lost on penalties.
David Beckham said in a statement, “AliExpress is helping fans get even closer to UEFA EURO 2024 this summer, by offering them great prizes as the action takes place on the pitch.” AliExpress follows a long list of high-profile companies that have partnered with Beckham including Adidas, L’Oreal, and Pepsi. Beckham has also been involved in several philanthropic ventures, including being a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2005
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