David Beckham has signed a deal to be a global ambassador for AliExpress, an online retail platform owned by Chinese technology giant Alibaba. The announcement comes as the Euros football tournament is due to kick off in Germany next month.
The company did not reveal how much it is paying the former England captain. In March, AliExpress agreed an exclusive e-commerce platform partnership with European football's governing body UEFA.
Under the deal with Beckham, the football superstar turned entrepreneur will be the face of AliExpress' Score More promotion, which will run during games.
“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,” David Beckham said.
AliExpress joins other major Chinese firms that are sponsoring the Euros, including electric vehicle maker BYD and electronics giant Vivo. Since hanging up his football boots more than a decade ago, Beckham has been linked to a host of brands and major sporting events.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Beckham and his wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl and fashion designer, have a combined fortune of £455m ($581.6m). After the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, the tournament is set to be the biggest sporting event of the year.
A total of 2.7 million tickets were made available for the competition, which runs from 14 June to 14 July across 10 cities including Munich and Hamburg.
According to UEFA, the 2020 Euros had a total global live television audience of 5.2 billion. The final, that England lost on penalties, was watched by 328 million people, it said.
