Written by Introduction
Sponsorships produces Money which is always on the mind of football clubs and their executives and they are always looking to develop new revenue streams from different industries, airline sponsorship is no different. All sponsorship deals provide monetary gain to both parties involved, therefore it would be pointless to just conclude that sponsorship deals are solely influenced by how much the contract is worth.
 a game of immense popularity, is firmly established in association with several major brands. These brands yearn for exposure and to them, getting associated with any football team, player or organization holds much importance in running their business. Whether you like the idea of football sponsorship or not, it is intrinsic to modern football. As attaining sponsorship earns them money which is a way for them getting better to their opponents. So who claims to be the biggest sponsor of soccer? Which brand gives the most sponsorship? Yes..here, in this article, we bring to you a list of the Top Football Sponsors in the World highlighting their brief description regarding their involvement in this spunky sport
Airline Sponsorships in Football
European football’s top teams have been turning to private airlines as a potential source of sponsorships income. In recent years there have been several high-profile sponsorships agreement between football clubs and airlines, most notable examples include Arsenal/Emirates, Manchester City/Etihad and Barcelona/Qatar Airways.
However, it is unlikely that clubs are agreeing to these deals solely based on their monetary incentives, as there are a multitude of other industries that could potentially be more lucrative to clubs. Pre-season tours for the Europeans elite have become more and more extravagant and have reached out to wider audiences as clubs seek to expand their global brand. For the English team’s pre-season tours used to go as far as the Netherlands, Belgium and France, now it has become common for clubs to travel to different continents to play local teams or even to face other Premier League clubs. And now we will go through some of those airlines companies that have huge impact on football industry due to their huge sponsorships contracts
Qatar Airways
When analyzing airline sponsorships in football it is difficult to ignore Qatar Airways and the way they have entered the football market. From the point of view of the airline company an affiliation with Europe’s elite clubs can be highly beneficial. In 2011 they made a strong move into football by becoming the shirt sponsor of one of the biggest football brands in the world, Barcelona. In 2014 they replaced Turkish Airlines as Barcelona’s official airline partner; Barcelona had been receiving €9m annually from the Turkish company, it was reported that the Qatar deal was worth €96m for a three-year period (Conn, 2013 and Marsden, 2017).
Additionally, in 2018 Qatar Airways announced another partnerships with different teams such as Bayern Munich to become their new airline partner and official sleeve sponsor until the end of the 2022/23 season. Whilst the official value of the deal is not common knowledge, it is reported that the Qatar Airways deal is worth more than Bayern’s previous deal with Hamad International Airport valued at $12.3 million. Bayern Munich’s marketing director Andreas Jung stated that the rationale behind this deal was to develop joint strategies with Qatar Airways in order to help them both achieve internationalization. Successful entry into a new continent will increase revenues, positively grow the brand across continents and help increase market share for both Qatar Airways and the clubs they are associated with.
Not just the airlines, sponsorships in football has much larger scale than that, such as:
Emirates
“Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, and Arsenal Football Club, have announced a new sponsorship deal,The sponsorship, the largest ever signed by the club and one of the biggest ever agreed in football, grants the airline a 5-year extension to their shirt partnership with the Club until the end of the 2023-2024 season.”
With the renewal between Arsenal and Emirates described as “the largest ever signed by the club and one of the biggest ever agreed in football” as per the BBC, the size of the deal was believed to be in excess of £200m. Although, as per AS, that estimated figure is still around £45m less than Real Madrid’s lucrative deal when they first agreed a five-year renewal two months later.
Not just the airlines, sponsorships in football has much larger scale than that, such as:
sporting goods companies sponsorships
Adidas
Adidas, the Sportswear company, has 87 active deals in soccer as per GlobalData’s Sponsorships database. Adidas’s most recent sponsorship deal was announced in March 2022, worth $40 million. As per the deal, Adidas became the official kit supplier for the Football Union of Russia.
As per GlobalData’s Sponsorships database, Adidas signed another major deal in October 2021 with Uefa which was valued at $220 million. As per the agreement, Adidas will sponsor Uefa National League, the European Qualifiers, Uefa Champions League, and Uefa women’s competitions.
In 2018, Adidas renewed its sponsorship with the Russian Football Union, worth $40 million. As per the agreement, Adidas would be an official kit supplier to the franchise. Later in March 2022, the deal was terminated by Adidas on account of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Nike
Nike, the sporting goods company, has 74 active sponsorship deals currently under its portfolio in soccerÂ
As per Sponsorship database, Nike in its most recent sponsorship deal this year signed soccer player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a deal worth $3.25 million. The one-year deal was announced in January 2022.
As per Sponsorship database, Nike signed another major sponsorship deal worth $5.95 million with AZ Alkmaar, the Dutch soccer club for the duration of five years. As per the agreement, Nike is to be the official kit supplier to the football club. Nike will also be supplying competition and training clothing to the AZ’s main and youth academy team from 2020-21 to 2024-25 season.
And even more respectful trademarks have made so many deals like coca cola,Samsung and Barclays bank.
Conclusion
When seeking to develop a theory in regard to the future direction of football sponsorship an important example to look at is Arsenal and Emirates. In just over 10 years the value of that deal has almost tripled and has become one of the biggest in Europe.
And due to this important and mostly unknown role of football sponsorships, a lot of online platforms such as heyagoal decided to make difference and got lots of informations about the whole football industry.
