World Gymnastics, the sport’s global governing body, has announced a bumper new partnership with the Chinese footwear and apparel brand Li-Ning spanning the next eight years.
Beginning immediately and running through 2033, this agreement sees Li-Ning become the latest global partner of the World Gymnastics body, taking up prominent branding presence across all eight disciplines governed by the organization.
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This will begin with the upcoming Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands (October 17 to 25), followed by the Parkour World Cup in Beijing, China (October 28 to November 1) and the Trampoline & Tumbling World Championships in Nanjing, China (November 4 to 8).
The latter two events, taking place in Li-Ning’s home market of China, which is also one of gymnastics’ biggest markets, illustrate the appeal of the partnership from World Gymnastics’ perspective.
In 2027, the slate of China-hosted events will continue, with the most prominent being the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which will take place from September 29 to October 8 in Chengdu.
The GlobalData Apparel Country Snapshot: China report revealed that Li-Ning sits below only Nike and fellow domestic brand Anta in terms of market share in China across 2024 and 2025, boasting 1.7% market share in the latter year.
That report stated: “Li-Ning occupies the upper-mid to premium pricing tier, targeting fashion-forward young urban consumers. As a family sports retailer, its identity revolves around basketball and lifestyle trainers, which it often releases in limited drops.
Li-Ning offers similar products to Nike but at a lower price point, making the brand more of an option to price-sensitive Chinese consumers.
The brand boasts over 7,600 physical locations across China and Asia at large, and back in June committed to opening a swathe of locations in the US through its new brand partnership with basketball icon Steph Curry.
Elsewhere, Li-Ning has been the global apparel supplier of World Table Tennis (WTT), the commercial arm of the International Table Tennis Federation, a relationship it has held since 2018, when it first became the body’s umpire & referee apparel sponsor.
