FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi is now Huawei’s global brand ambassador

Huawei has announced that it has appointed FC Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi as its Global Brand Ambassador. Huawei is a Chinese global leading company in ICT and telecommunication solutions and Lionel Messi is an Argentinian born dribbling and scoring wizzard who is currently based in Spain.

The appointment comes as Huawei gears up for the launch of the Huawei P9 on 6 April 2016.

Speaking about the partnership, Kevin Ho, President, Handset Business, Huawei Consumer BG, suggested that Messi’s image is synonymous with “greatness”:

Lionel Messi will help our brand to encourage people to focus, persevere and breakthrough; to connect with greatness, especially in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, where Huawei puts great devotions. We both honor the path we walked to what we have achieved, and with each new challenge we renew our commitment to find the path to success.

Read more: Samsung holds steady, Huawei gains on Apple in latest smartphone sales figures

Huawei is not new to partnering with soccer teams or players. The company has had partnerships with the Spanish league La Liga, Arsenal, Paris Saint Germain, Atletico de Madrid, and others. It has also partnered up with individual players like such as Robert Lewandowski, the Huawei ambassador in central and eastern Europe and the Nordic, and Alexis Sánchez, the Huawei ambassador in Chile.

According to Gartner, Huawei accounted for 7.7% of global smartphone marketshare by the end of the Q3 in 2015, an increase from the 5.5% it held at the same time last year.

The company did not reveal the exact figure for the deal with Messi but rumours suggest that it’s in the region of €8-million per annum.