Sponsorship in Football

In this article we will discuss a common commercial practice that football clubs are using, and that became essential for them. Nowadays, very huge contracts are signed between clubs and the biggest corporations. As the biggest football clubs are known world widely, every companies would be happy to associate its name to a club with millions of fan. Sponsorship is a cash or fee paid to a property in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated to that property. For the property being sponsored, there is an expectation for a commercial return, increased awareness, and brand building. In the other hand clubs are paid for representing the logo of a company and as we will see, the amounts are just enormous! We will discuss many types of sponsorship for different teams.

Manchester United sponsorship: 

Manchester United - Chevrolet official Sponsor

Manchester United first sponsor was Sharp Electronics in the season 1983-83. At that time the deal worth £500,000, and it was a record. The team played with the sharp logo for 18 years, until 1999-00 season. Then, a list of great companies such as Vodafone, AIG, and Aon were sponsoring the team until the actual sponsor that is the American car manufacturer Chevrolet. Indeed on July 2012, Manchester signed a huge contract with Chevrolet, £559 million over seven years from season 2014-15 to 2020-21. Moreover, the team has agreed with Adidas to become the official kit manufacturer for 10 years, from 2015-16 to 2025-26 season. The amount of this deal was about £750 million. A company can also sponsor a team without having a direct appearance in the official Kit, but maybe on the stadium, the training kit or the official plane and bus of the team. In Manchester United it is the case of AON, DHL, BWIN, and Turkish Airlines. 

FC Barcelona Sponsorship

The case of FC Barcelona is unique. In fact, the team had different politics than other clubs. During more than one year of existence, the club didn’t allow any direct sponsorship on the official kit. The amazing story behind the first sponsor to appear in FC Barcelona jersey was that the team was the one that will pay for it. Indeed, the first logo to appear in the jersey was UNICEF a humanitarian organization. But, regarding the majors economical issues that football clubs have to face, FC Barcelona decided to make a deal and put the first corporate sponsorship logo in the official kit, but without deleting UNICEF that was now in back of the jersey. FC Barcelona official sponsor is Qatar Airways, but the team has also signed contracts with Audi, Nike, BEKO, INTEL, and Turkish Airlines like Manchester United 

FC Barcelona Qatar Airways official Sponsor

                           
                                            

References:

• http://www.manutd.com/en/Club/Sponsors.aspx
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/10966026/Manchester-United-      agree-new-750million-sponsorship-deal-with-Adidas.html
• http://www.fcbarcelona.com/fr/Sponsors