April 25 – One of Italian football’s most faithful and long term partners, Telecom Italia, has picked up what is probably the shortest ever title sponsorship for a premier national football competition.
The telecoms giant’s mobile brand, TIM, has agreed with Lega Serie A, to become title sponsor of the Coppa Italia for semi-finals and the final of the competition, rebranding it as the TIM Cup. AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Atalanta are the final four teams left in the competition. Atalanta knocked out defending champions Juventus in January.
No value was given for the three-match Coppa Italia deal. Last week TIM extended its sponsor partnership with the Italian football federation (FIGC) for another four years for the men’s and women’s national teams, under-21 sides, five-a-side and beach soccer teams, as well as Italy’s youth teams.
TIM had been title sponsor of the Coppa Italia in a deal that expired at the end of the 2017/18 season.
TIM were replaced by Italian state-owned railway Trenitalia as part of a deal that included Serie A sponsorship. That deal was cancelled by Trenitalia with Danilo Toninelli, the Italian minister for transport, reporting savings of $22 million as a result.
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