April 10 – The Women’s World Cup France 2019 has opened its sponsorship account with French chemicals company Arkema becoming the first national sponsor for the tournament.
April 9 – France’s Ligue 1 and broadcast distribution partner beIN SPORTS have signed a major TV deal in China that will see the league broadcast across terrestrial and digital channels with state broadcaster CCTV.
April 6 – The attraction of e-sports has snared another football big name. Former Real Madrid, Liverpool and West Ham star Álvaro Arbeloa is partnering with League of Legends team Origen.
April 5 – Manchester City and Tinder have turned their courtship into a multi-year partnership in a deal that will also see the dating platform connect with sister club New York City FC in the MLS.
April 4 – Manchester United fans in China will be able to apply for a club branded credit card as part of a new sponsorship agreement with Chinese banking group, PingAn Bank.
April 4 – The Austrian Bundesliga has announced and extension of their main sponsorship with sports betting company Tipico for at least two years from the summer of 2018.
April 4 – China’s Wuhan DDMC Culture Co has added a second Big 5 European league to its broadcast rights portfolio, acquiring Spain’s La Liga for the country.
March 29 – Spanish car maker SEAT has expanded its sponsorship with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to encompass the men’s national team at the 2018 Russia World Cup.
March 28 – ‘Think global act local’ is an ad agency rallying cry from the 1980s but it is still relevant today in an increasingly globalised commercial and media landscape. But how far do clubs, eager for global fans and regional sponsors, go locally?
March 28 – More than 130 Palestinian football clubs and sports associations have called on German sportswear manufacturer Adidas to end its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA) over the thorny issue of Israeli league clubs based in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
By David Owen
March 27 – Hats off to Scottish second-tier club Inverness Caledonian Thistle for what must be the classiest intervention of the season in the often dubious field of football club mascots.
March 26 – European Champions Portugal have added a second national team sponsor from China for the 2018 Russia World Cup. Eastroc Super Drink with be the Portuguese team’s Official Energy Drink.
March 26 – LaLiga club Atletico de Madrid is flexing its Chinese muscle with the opening of two offices in the Chinese cities of Beijing and the other in Chengdu.
By Paul Nicholson
March 22 – Betting brands and football club sponsorship are tightly linked but while the clubs have an appetite for the betting company money, the brands question how much clubs really want to engage with them.
21 March – LaLiga has expanded its regional sponsorship coverage with telecoms giant MTN Group into Africa. MTN Ivory Coast joins the company’s Iranian subsidiary MTN Irancell as a regional sponsor of the Spanish league.