By EBR
Making the dream possible – Huawei is extending
a helping hand to a range of European football clubs, bringing the field of
technical innovation and the football field closer together through a series of
partnership and sponsorship initiatives. Huawei is committed to bringing out the
best in European football by working to heighten the fans’ experience and by
helping clubs realise their dreams with corporate sponsorship.
Huawei is
proud to share its passion for football and show fellow fans across Europe its
sustainable commitment to countries in which it is active. Arsenal, Ajax, Milan, Glasgow Rangers, Paris St Germain,
Dortmund/BVB and Spain’s La Liga.
Mr.
Jean-Claude Blanc, Deputy CEO of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club,
commented: “Dreaming even bigger everywhere in the world is our first and
foremost ambition. Huawei participates in this dream by opening the doors to
China and by developing the best performing technology to do so.”
Ajax and
the Amsterdam Arena stadium signed recently a partnership agreement with Huawei
which will enable fans to use a unique Huawei Wi-Fi network embedded in the
stadium for free.
ICT plays a
vital role in the world of sport: it brings football into people’s living
rooms, enabling people to share the experience and emotions. Tom Fox, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal
Football Club, said “We are delighted to be partnering with Huawei at such an
exciting time in the development of its brand globally, and, in particular, in
the UK and Europe."
Huawei’s
technical expertise is helping Glasgow Rangers and Dortmund/BVB clubs with
groundbreaking, fully converged, stadium-wide WiFi deployments. The projects
will ultimately give every fan at Ibrox Stadium and Signal Iduna Park full, instant access to
content-rich media, allowing them to participate in real-time interactions with
the Club.
Rangers’
Chief Executive Craig Mather said "Huawei has shown an enormous appetite
for, and commitment to, providing an absolutely best-in-class service. More and
more people are using smart devices as a primary means of communication and we
look forward to revolutionising the way in which Rangers fans can engage with
the club before, during and after the match." “The high data capacity that
WiFi delivers will allow fans to use social networks to share their experiences,
as well as allowing clubs to enhance their ‘digital dialogue’ with their
supporters”, said Victor Zhang, CEO, Huawei UK.
As
technology partner of Huawei will not only help Spanish football promote itself
in Asia, but also open football summer camps for fans to experience Spanish
football culture.
Huawei’s
European profile
It is
clear. Huawei is recognisably European in its values and practices. In a recent
interview with journalists, CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei has reconfirmed the
company’s intention to increase investment in European research and development
while explaining the added value of Huawei’s employee-owned structure.
Mr Ren, who
founded Huawei in 1987, said Huawei would continue to increase its research
spending, which rose last year to roughly $5 billion. A key focus of this
investment would be placed on Europe, where Huawei has already opened 14
R&D sites and intends to create 5 500 additional jobs, 850 of which will be
in R&D.
Huawei’s European strategy is not just about investment; however, it is also about full integration with the European business environment: “our idea is to make people perceive Huawei as a European company," he said. Transparency and openness are part of this strategy.
By: N. Peter Kramer
