The historic linkup is between Kwai (powered by China’s Kuaishou), a social networking Application and South America’s renowned 105 year old Copa América soccer competition.

The deal – brokered by the Shanghai, São Paulo and London based sports marketing company EMW Global – will help connect Latin American football to hundreds of millions of social media users both in China and around the world on an unprecedented scale.

Michael Rocha-Keys, EMW’s Chief Executive Officer said the deal helps fulfil his company’s core objective – to link East with West.

“We are keen to support brands from the East that want to grow in the West, as well as Western brands that have an interest in operating in the Asian market,” he said. Kwai ‘s mission is to enable social media video generators to show “the fun side of real life.”

Copa América, one of the three most watched football tournaments in the world, prides itself on the nimble footwork skills of Latin America’s soccer giants.

“In Chinese, Kuaishou means ‘quick hand’– so it’s great news that they are teaming up with the ‘quickfeet’ of Copa América’s & participating nations,” said Mr Rocha-Keys, who is based in East Asia, but whos family hails from Latin America and Europe. This year’s Copa América competition, being held in two South American countries (Argentina and potentially Colombia) between 13 June and 10 July and is planned to be staged in nine different cities.

With the host countries located at opposite ends of their continent, the tournament will be, in host city terms, the most pan-Latin-American for almost 40 years.

Copa América, originally known as the South American Football Championship, was founded in 1916. This year’s tournament will be its 47th continent-wide competition.

‘’This is a trailblazing partnership for both Kwai and Copa América”, expressed Jeffrey Meng, Head of BD & Strategic Partnerships of Kwai LATAM. “We are very excited to be breaking new ground with the full support of our partners at EMW Global.’’

Kwai has hundreds of millions of monthly active users – and last year topped Google Play and Apple App Store’s ‘Most Downloaded’ lists in eight major countries. Kwai’s active users spend up to an impressive 85 minutes a day on its main app .

With staff specialized in the Asian market and with full knowledge of local social platforms andtraditions, Mr Rocha-Keys says his EMW network executes full service brand-building and awareness campaigns for its clients which include a number of FTSE 100 brands, international football stars, clubs as well as national teams.

EMW Global opened its office in São Paulo in December 2020, with the launch of the game Mobile Legends (MOBA) – one of the top mobile games in SEA – through a digital campaign in Brazil with two of its clients: Dani Alves and Falcão (Futsal).

As well as working with Alves and the GOAT of Futsal Falcao, the EMW office in São Paulo is also managing Flamengo (the biggest club in LATAM for the Chinese territory). EMW’s role includes brand-building and commercial mapping to further development of Flamengo’s ambitious internationalization plans.