By Mark Baber
April 28 – The board of one of Turkey’s biggest clubs – Galatasaray FC – have terminated their kit sponsorship deal with Dumankaya Construction for seemingly pro-Erdogan government reasons. The company’s owners have been listed as suspected of having provided charitable donations to the moderate Islamic, US-based, Gülen Movement.
By Matt Scott
April 27 – The most unusual Premier League season in the competition’s 23-year history has made the commercial messaging markedly easier for executives selling sponsorship inventory around the world’s most popular domestic football competition.
By Matt Scott
April 27 – Tag Heuer has become the Premier League’s Official Timekeeper in a three-year deal announced simultaneously in London and Hong Kong. No official value for the deal was released but one estimate reckons it to be worth £7.3 million per season.
April 27 – German club SC Freiburg who currently lead 2. Bundesliga will have a new main and short sponsor next season, whether they make it to the top flight or not.
By Mark Baber
April 26 – Whilst on the pitch, FC Bayern are within sight of a Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League treble, off the pitch the club have signed a new partnership with American multi-national consumer goods company Procter and Gamble.
By Samindra Kunti
April 25 – One of the longest running shirt sponsorships in European football comes to an end this summer when for the first time in 33 years Philips won’t be the brand on PSV Eindhoven’s shirt. Philips’ sponsorship will be replaced by Energiedirect in a three-year deal worth €18 million.
By Tom Parsons
April 21 – Stoke City have entered into a six-year sponsorship agreement with bet365 which will see the Britannia Stadium become the bet365 stadium, and announced plans to extend the ground.
April 21 – As Manchester United closed to within a point of Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification, the club announced an extension of its Swissquote global sponsorship.
By Mark Baber
April 19 – The announcement that Wolverhampton Wanderers have agreed a deal with US headquartered payday lender Dollar Financial for their Money Shop brand to be the club’s main sponsor has stirred up controversy, with two local MPs and the heads of two local councils writing to the club’s chief executive Jez Moxey asking him to reconsider the deal in the interests of supporters and constituents.
April 12 – Man City players David Silva, Bacary Sagna, Fernando and Eliaquim Mangala warmed up for their Champions League second leg quarter final match-up with PSG with a few laps of the Etihad campus, in Nissan GT racing cars.
By Paul Nicholson
April 8 – Speculation is mounting over who will have the sponsor position on the front of Barcelona’s shirt – probably the most valuable football sponsor position in world football – once the Qatar Airways deal ends at the end of June.
April 7 – Manchester City has signed automotive component group Astra Otoparts as an Official Regional Partner of the Club.
April 7 – West Ham sponsor Betway has picked up title sponsorship for an England v Germany Legends match to be held in honour of the Boleyn Ground’s final season and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final.
April 5 – Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, which last month announced it had become the first Chinese company to sign up as a top-tier World Cup partner, has further cemented its European football sponsorship with a title sponsorship deal for Atlético Madrid’s training ground.
By Mark Baber
March 31 – The efforts of Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister and President of the Russian Football Union (RFU), to put the finances of Russian football on a solid foundation have received another boost as Russia’s second biggest mobile operator MegaFon has signed an agreement with the RFU to become a general sponsor of Russian football from 2016 until 2018.