Goooooooal! Yingli Green Energy scores FIFA World Cup 2010 official sponsorship

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  South Africa Fifa 2010 Logo

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Tom Cheyney

Tom Cheyney is former senior editor of PV-Tech / Photovoltaics International magazine. A veteran technology journalist / editor / blogger, he covered the semiconductor, microelectronics and solar sectors for many years - since fax machines were state of the art. His PV-Tech blog has become a must-read for industry insiders and observers. He was also chief editor of "The Rise of Thin-Film Solar Technology" book published in early 2010.

One solar firm will soon have a shot at the kind of brand recognition that most photovoltaics players can only dream of. Yingli Green Energy will accompany the likes of Budweiser, McDonald’s, Castrol, and Satyam as one of the official sponsors of the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010, the global championship of football (what we Yanks call “soccer”) starting June 11 in South Africa.

Yingli's sponsorship deal gives the company “global marketing rights, including certain ticket, perimeter-board advertising, and media rights as well as the right to showcase its solar products at the fan zones in the FIFA World Cup stadiums,” according to the news from the Beijing signing ceremony.

The agreement also “gives Yingli the right to place its company logo next to the FIFA World Cup Official Emblem and advertise or promote its products and services at each step of the distribution process.”

Plus, the Chinese company “will have access to extensive on-site opportunities at FIFA World Cup stadiums for marketing and promotion purposes” and will provide PV panels for the “20 Centres for 2010” program initiated by the world football association.

In other words, a very sweet promotional deal for a company that's only been shipping its crystalline-silicon modules since 2002.

Yingli’s successful wooing of Sepp Blatter and his FIFA minions does not lack for irony. A Chinese solar company becomes the first renewables outfit ever (and also the first PRC-based company, period) to win the sponsorship derby when the country’s team didn’t even make it out of the qualifying rounds for the tourney.

Seems Yingli is better at the vertical integration stuff than the Chinese men on the pitch. 

Considering that reigning solar country number one—Germany—is also a legit World Cup contender (and played host to the 2006 event), wouldn’t a major German PV company have been a more apropos sponsor? C’mon, “SolarWorld, official sponsor of the World Cup” or “It’s a SolarWorld Cup…” would have a certain ring to it.

I bet the men and women in Solar Valley are cringing at yet another Chinese firm taking symbolic market share away from them, and in association with their national game to boot.

You would think that solar companies from countries like Japan, Spain, and the United States that qualified for the draw would love to get their name in front of those billions of captive eyeballs.

Alas, Sharp’s efforts have been dulled, Abengoa came and went, and First Solar didn’t place. At least Spain's side has a shot at winning the Cup, and the U.S. 11 might eke into the second round.

After the last foul-prone midfielder gets booked and the final penalty kick sails over the crossbar in the finals in South Africa on July 11, Yingli could become the brand most synonymous with solar energy in the global consciousness.