(Yicai) July 17 -- Chinese home appliance giant Midea Group has become the official sponsor of the TotalEnergies 2025 African Cup of Nations, the continent's biggest tournament for national teams, to support its expansion in African markets.

Midea will promote its brand during the 2025 AFCON through multiple channels, including competition venues, digital platforms, and fan interaction activities, the Foshan-based firm announced yesterday, citing an agreement it signed with the Confederation of African Football on the same day.

The 2025 AFCON will be held in Morocco from Dec. 21 this year to Jan. 18 next year, with 24 national soccer teams competing for the title.

"This landmark partnership not only represents a deeper, more advanced step in Midea's sports marketing strategy across Africa, but also signifies that the brand has forged a stronger emotional bond with African consumers who cherish life and have a passion for football," Midea noted.

In recent years, the African market has shown unprecedented vitality and strong consumption potential, with consumers' demand for high-quality home appliances increasing day by day, the firm added.

With increasing uncertainties in the global trade environment, Chinese home appliance companies are diversifying their overseas market expansion plans, an industry insider told Yicai. The African market has a relatively low home appliance popularity rate, with great growth potential, the source added.

Midea has been accelerating its development in Africa in recent years, having built several factories in Egypt, including a washing machine and a refrigerator one in the Sadat City Industrial Park, with a total investment of USD150 million. The two plants are expected to come on stream in August and November, respectively.

Moreover, the company announced in May that it planned to invest additional USD50 million in the North African country by early next year to build a production base for home appliance parts and small appliances, such as electric fans and microwave ovens.

Besides Midea, also other Chinese home appliance firms have invested in localized production in Africa. For example, Haier Group and Vanward New Electric have factories in Egypt, and Hisense Group and Skyworth Group own plants in South Africa.

More Chinese home appliance companies are expected to invest in Africa in the future, the above industry insider noted.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione