Ahn Se-young's fight for personal support rose to $10 million for four years...Linings Offers All-Time Highs To Compete With Yonex
Jun 22, 2025
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The battle for personal sponsorship is heating up over Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance).
According to Sports Chosun coverage on the 22nd, famous companies in the industry are competing for the highest amount to win personal sponsorship of badminton star Ahn Se-young.
In May, the Badminton Korea Association officially allowed individual sponsorship contracts for major items such as rackets, shoes, and protectors to improve players' performance and protect their rights. This measure is based on the results of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's audit of the incident since the Paris Olympics last year.
At that time, Ahn Se-young expressed his grievances about the operation of the national team, and later suspicions of poor administration and corruption by the association emerged. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which conducted a large-scale audit, announced the final results in October of that year, including allowing personal support.
Since then, behind-the-scenes competition in the equipment industry has begun to catch Ahn Se-young, the world's No. 1 player who is the best in badminton. In the midst of this, the leading company is China's leading sports brand 'Lining'. Li Ning is a sports equipment company founded in 1989 by Chinese gymnastics star Li Ning. Although he is a latecomer in the industry, he has grown to compete with global brands such as Nike and Adidas by sponsoring global sports stars and teams based on his current enormous dominance in the Chinese market.
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Compared to Yonex, the official sponsor of the Badminton Association, which has provided 4.7 billion won (3.7 billion won in cash + 1 billion won in goods) per year, it is the highest treatment ever to invest about 70% of the amount spent on the entire national team (including junior) to one Ahn Se-young. Not only is it the best in domestic badminton history, but it is also one of the best in the 'single contract' compared to the top badminton stars abroad.
Lining is known to have offered 2 billion won and 1.2 billion won in personal support per year for Seo Seung-jae (28) and Kim Won-ho (26), who play in the same team as Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) and the national team, respectively. 'Lining' was in the process of final coordination after submitting a contract with these conditions.
But it's falling into the shadows. This is because Japanese company 'Yonex' is accelerating the competition for money. Recently, Yonex reportedly offered Ahn the terms of a sponsorship contract worth more than 2 billion won per year through a media report. This was far below the 3.5 billion won per year originally proposed by Lining.
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Therefore, it is reported that 'Lining' is struggling not to be pushed out of the competition with 'Yonex', even though it is embarrassed that the contract terms originally proposed to Ahn Se-young and other players were leaked through some channels.
'Lining' is also bringing up significant investment in the association. The association is about to cut its annual sponsorship from Yonex by 50% due to the permission of personal sponsorship. 'Lining' conveyed to the association its position that it would sponsor 4 billion won per year if it re-bids its official sponsor.
An official from the badminton community said, `It is welcome that athletes are treated in a 'class' thanks to Ahn's courage, but some are concerned that it will turn into a 'money party' and deepen the 'poor, poor and rich' situation"First of all, what choice Ahn Se-young, who complained of discomfort in Yonex shoes, will make has become a point to watch," he said.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
