The World Cup in Qatar will come to an end today.

(File photo, Reuters)

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is coming to an end. Compared with the criticism or denunciation of the host country before the game, the tension of the game during the game made the fans more excited. However, the hosting of the World Cup in Qatar means that Asia The rise in the international sports arena, including the management of international events, corporate participation in sponsorships, and competitive achievements, all show that Asia is no longer the only place in the world, and it can also be seen that Asia plays a more important role in the development of the international sports arena.

First of all, judging from the handling of large-scale international events, the first modern Summer Olympics held in Asia was the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. After 20 years, it appeared in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. Coincidentally, the third Summer Olympics The Olympics are also separated by 20 years, that is, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics for the second time in 2020, shortening the distance from the last Summer Olympics held in Asia to 12 years.

A similar situation also occurred in the Winter Olympics. The first and second Winter Olympics in Asia were held in Sapporo, Japan in 1972 and in 1998. The third Winter Olympics was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea 20 years later, but only after It took Beijing four years to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. It is worth mentioning that the three Olympic Games from 2018 to 2022 were all hosted in Asia. 1) In short, the number of Asian cities where the Olympic Games are held has been shortened considerably.

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The World Universiade, which is second in scale to the Olympic Games, is held more frequently in Asia. The event is only held every odd-numbered years. Of the 10 World Universiade in this century, 7 are in Asian cities, including the 2017 Taipei Universiade ( as Table 1).

The World Football Tournament, which was founded in 1930, did not land in Asia until 70 years later. It was jointly organized by Japan and South Korea. After 20 years, it was the second World Football Tournament in Asia. It is also reported that Saudi Arabia It intends to jointly bid with other countries to host the 2030 Centennial World Football Championship.

Other sports also have a similar trend. The most important event of track and field, known as the mother of sports, is the World Athletics Championships. The first session was held in 1983, and it was held every two years. In the previous ten sessions, there was only one in Asia. Four out of the 20th editions are held in Asian cities. The so-called "small ball" also has similar situations, including badminton and tennis. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia host many heavyweight badminton matches, while tennis sports It was after the US Open that the focus gradually shifted to China.

Second, the cost of event management is huge, so it is very important for companies to participate. Asian companies do not let European and American companies predominate, and they also sponsor large-scale events one after another. Taking the Olympic Games as an example, nine sponsors of the International Olympic Games in the 1980s In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, 6 of the 14 IOC sponsors are Asian companies (as shown in Table 2). It is worth mentioning that when Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympic Games, it will also receive With the strong support of Japanese companies, not only Toyota and Bridgestone became the sponsors of the International Olympic Games, but also nearly 60 Japanese companies sponsored the Tokyo Olympics, with a sponsorship amount of about 3 billion U.S. dollars, the third largest in the 2012 London Olympics. times.

The current World Cup has also seen the power of Asian state-owned enterprises. Four of the seven FIFA sponsors are Asian companies. The report also pointed out that the amount of sponsorship by Chinese companies for the World Cup is about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, ranking first in the world. First, the amount of sponsorship by American companies is US$1.1 billion, ranking second.

Furthermore, it is the sports performance on the arena. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics can be said to be an important watershed. For the first time in the Olympics that year, three Asian countries entered the top ten for gold medals, namely China, Japan and South Korea. Among them, It is the first time for China and South Korea to squeeze into the top ten. Since then, these three countries have been regarded as regular visitors to the top ten. In 2008, China even won the first place in the number of gold medals with the advantage of being a landlord. Last year's Tokyo Olympics, China came second with a one-sided gap, and the host country, Japan, came in third. This is the first time that two Asian countries have entered the top three in the number of gold medals in the Olympics.

At the same time, the Asian teams in this World Cup are also impressive. For the first time, three Asian teams have entered the top 16, including Japan, South Korea and Australia. Several Asian teams also played well. Hu Shengfeng, including Japan defeated Spain and Germany, South Korea defeated Portugal with Ronaldo, and Saudi Arabia, which is ranked 50 in the world, also defeated Argentina. There is no doubt that the strength of Asian teams has made people dare not dare underestimate.

Sports have always been a product of Western countries. Coupled with innate physical advantages, Western athletes are usually more likely to have superior performance. Therefore, they have more voice and decision-making power. This is because the decision-making work of many international sports organizations is in the hands of Europeans can see it in their hands. After entering the 21st century, many political and economic situations have changed. Asian countries are also striving to be on an equal footing with European and American countries in the international sports arena to demonstrate their national strength. This article focuses on large-scale international event management and corporate sponsorship The growth and decline of Eastern and Western countries in sports territory in this century can be seen in the improvement of sports performance and competition results. There is no doubt that the political and economic strength of Asian countries in this century has also been revealed in the field of sports.

(Author: Huang Yu, Professor of Tsinghua University and Director of Sports Business and Policy Center)

Japan beat Spain in the group stage.

(File photo, AFP)

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