In the river of time, on May 12 in Beijing, a piece of news like a tidal wave - the Japan Football Association, an organization that carries the dreams of countless footballers, has just concluded an eight-year sponsorship bonanza with Dentsu, a pact that will last from April 1, 2023, until March 31, 2030, for a total amount of up to 35 billion yen. Prior to that, the JFA had already concluded another eight-year sponsorship deal with Adidas for a total of 51 billion yen.
With the number of places in the next World Cup increasing from 32 to 48 and the number of seats for Asia climbing from 4.5 to 8, the threshold for Japan to reach the World Cup has been significantly lowered, making the task of attracting sponsors much easier, senior sources in the Japanese Football Association (JFA) have revealed.
In retrospect, Japanese soccer's journey through World Cup qualifying has not been a smooth one.Under Halilhodzic's guidance in September 2016, Japan went down 1-2 to the UAE in their opening WC match, and in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, they lost 0-1 to Oman in their first match and 0-1 to Saudi Arabia in their third. But if Asia's World Cup quota is increased to eight, Japan will have plenty of time to make adjustments even if they get off to a rough start.
It is reported that the sponsorship contract between the Japan Football Association and Dentsu contains an additional clause: if the Japanese team does not qualify for the World Cup, the sponsorship fee will be reduced by 10% to 20%, and at the same time, if the Japanese team fails to qualify for the World Cup, the attractiveness of the sponsors will also be greatly reduced. However, with the increase in the number of World Cup places in Asia, the likelihood of this clause being implemented has become extremely remote.
For the Japanese sports world, such a huge sponsorship contract is rare. In the next few years, the JFA will receive more than 10 billion yen a year in sponsorship fees. However, for Japanese soccer, the key to the future lies not only in being able to participate in the World Cup, but also in how to excel in the World Cup.
