BYD signed a multi-year partnership with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Thursday, becoming the French football club’s automotive partner and adding a third top European team to a sponsorship portfolio assembled in under twelve months.
The agreement is the latest move in a coordinated push by Chinese automakers into European football, as the industry confronts a prolonged domestic sales decline and pivots toward overseas markets for growth.
BYD‘s own home-market volumes fell 15.7% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, dragged down by a fierce price war and thinning government subsidies.
Overseas shipments, by contrast, reached a record 175,349 units in June alone, and the company has raised its full-year export target to 1.5 million vehicles.
Football sponsorships offer a direct route to brand recognition in markets where Chinese automakers still trail established rivals in consumer awareness.
BYD and its premium sub-brand Denza will supply vehicles for PSG’s daily operations, the companies said in a joint announcement.
The partnership will also include international campaigns, exclusive content featuring PSG’s men’s and women’s squads, and fan activations worldwide.
The deal makes PSG the latest major European club to replace an established automaker with a Chinese one.
Renault held PSG’s automotive partnership from July 2018 until June 2021, having itself replaced Citroën, which partnered with the club from 2011 to 2017.
PSG had no automotive sponsor for five years before the BYD agreement.
The shift from two successive French carmakers to a Chinese EV giant mirrors a pattern playing out across the continent’s top leagues.
Three Clubs in Twelve Months
The PSG deal is the third major European football partnership BYD has announced since July 2025.
The Chinese automaker signed a three-year agreement with Inter Milan that month, supplying around 70 vehicles — including custom-edition Sealion 7 SUVs in the club’s black-and-blue colors — to players, coaching staff, and management.
Inter had previously used Volvo as its official car partner for eighteen years.
In February, BYD replaced Nissan as Manchester City’s official automotive partner, supplying vehicles from the BYD and Denza brands and installing charging infrastructure and energy-storage batteries at the City Football Academy.
BYD branding appeared immediately on the men’s first-team training-kit sleeve, with LED advertising at the Etihad Stadium and a vehicle escort for the team bus on matchdays.
Before the club partnerships, BYD had already established itself in European football by replacing Volkswagen as the official e-mobility partner of UEFA Euro 2024 and sponsoring the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in 2025.
Industry-Wide Pattern
Geely-backed Polestar became the official mobility partner of Borussia Dortmund in August 2025, signing a three-year deal reportedly worth €5 million annually.
The Polestar logo appears on BVB’s jersey sleeve in all competitions — Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and Champions League — and the company supplies 60 fully electric vehicles to the club’s players, coaches, and executives.
SAIC-owned MG has held a sleeve sponsorship with Olympique Lyonnais since 2021, renewed in 2024 through 2027 as the club’s exclusive automotive supplier.
MG also signed a multi-year deal with Arsenal in January 2024 as the Premier League club’s official automotive partner.
Chery — China’s largest auto exporter in 2025 — announced earlier this month that it had become AFC Bournemouth’s official automotive partner in a three-season deal through the end of the 2028/29 campaign.
Branding of the automaker will appear on the front of the men’s team’s training kit, with a parallel partnership covering the women’s squad.
Chery also signed FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski as its global brand ambassador in May.
The football push sits alongside a broader trend of Chinese automakers recruiting European sports and entertainment figures to front their brands.
BYD signed former James Bond actor Daniel Craig as the global ambassador for Denza in March, while Xiaomi signed Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice in June for its YU7 SUV.
In China, Nio‘s sub-brand Onvo partnered with Shanghai Shenhua FC in January, providing vehicles for the 2026 Chinese Super League season.
European Sales Context
The company sold 403,472 new energy vehicles globally in June, leaning on record international demand to offset a contracting home market.
BYD has guided for 5.0 million to 5.5 million NEV sales in 2026, with a raised overseas target of 1.5 million units.
According to preliminary data compiled by EV, BYD registered 33,624 vehicles across 18 European markets in June, roughly 135% more than a year earlier.
France is a key market within that expansion.
BYD sold 938 vehicles there in May, a 627.1% year-over-year increase, and the Paris Auto Show in October is expected to feature a larger Chinese contingent than the 2024 edition.
PSG won the UEFA Champions League in both 2025 and 2026. The club claims a global fanbase of 500 million supporters.
