India’s Ceat Limited is no newcomer to football, having sponsored Italian Serie A club Torino FC since 2018. Nor is the strategic partner to the Indian Premier League cricket cricket series a stranger to sports sponsorship within its homeland. But the tyre maker hasn’t engaged in football in India – until now. Ceat has signed on as the official tyre partner of Jamshedpur FC for the Indian Super League 2020-21.
BKT’s title sponsorship of French football has increased its brand awareness according to new data compiled for the off-highway tyre specialist. The CSA Research panel found that brand awareness has reached 17 per cent among football fans following two years title sponsorship of the Coupe de la Ligue BKT.
Continuing its long association with Manchester United, Apollo Tyres recently extended ‘Official Global Tyre Partner’ status with a parallel association with the company’s Vredestein tyre brand. The move is part of a wider growth strategy for the Vredestein brand across the Europe and North American markets.
One of the longest running top-tier football shirt sponsorships will come to an end in 2021. Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera confirmed reports published earlier in 2021 in Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport that Inter Milan’s shirt will not display the Pirelli logo for the first time since the 1995/96 season. However, he told Italian radio station GR Parlamento that “Inter and Pirelli will continue in some way” in the wake of the team’s season opening 4-3 victory over Fiorentina.
Landsail Tyres is the new Official Tyre Partner of Leicester City. The Sentury Tire brand has signed a multi-year deal with the Premier League football club, starting this season. The brand has excellent penetration in the UK tyre market, distributed by Grouptyre, and is present in more than 100 countries globally. It says the partnership with Leicester City is part of its strategic development plan. It will be “a core pillar of its marketing strategy.” The brand hopes to benefit from enhanced exposure across Leicester City’s digital channels as well as on matchdays at the King Power Stadium.
The five-year-old sponsorship arrangement between Linglong Tire and German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg has been given a further boost with a two-year extension of the 2019-initiated sleeve partnership. The continued presence of the Linglong logo on the left sleeve of players’ jerseys through to 2022 complements a partnership that also includes advertising on stadium LED boards, cam carpets, matchday hospitality and digital services.
Nexen Tire’s renewal of its Manchester City partnership for a third term sees the tyre manufacturer aim to “further boost co-branding opportunities, media and marketing partnerships, and much more for both parties”. The new deal means Nexen Tire logo will continue to appear on the left sleeve of playing shirts and expand this position to all available City teams and competitions. This will include both men’s and women’s playing kit, men’s training kits, the Elite Development Squad (EDS) and eSports players. Nexen Tire has been supporting Manchester City since 2015 and became the first official sleeve partner in 2017, the first announcement of its kind in the Premier League.
Glasgow Rangers have confirmed Tomket Tires as a new sleeve partner for the next two seasons, commencing in the 2020/21 season. Through the partnership, Tomket Tires will reportedly have “a significant presence around Ibrox” including on the interview backdrops and LED boards.
Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP), the body which governs the French football leagues, officially presented the new identity of the 2020/21 Ligue 2 season this month. And, from 1 July 2020 it will be called Ligue 2 BKT. The title sponsorship agreement runs through to June 2024.
Sailun global brand RoadX Tyre has become the official tyre partner of West Ham United Football Club, in a three-year deal. RoadX was launched in 2019, with car and commercial products focusing on comfort and durability. The brand is linking its recent foundation to West Ham’s reputation as ‘The Academy of Football’, with a youth development system that has forged the talents of many future stars.
It’s already title partner to the knockout championship Coupe de la Ligue (French League Cup), and now BKT has extended its football activities in France by becoming title sponsor to the country’s second division league. From the start of the 2020/21 season, this will be known as Ligue 2 BKT.
The sponsorship agreement between Hankook Tire and Real Madrid has been extended until the end of the 2022/23 season. This continued collaboration between tyre maker and Spanish La Liga football club was sealed at a ceremony recently held at Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, and Sang Hoon Lee, Hankook Tire’s president in Europe, oversaw proceedings.
Apollo Tyres has partnered with Manchester United F.C. for more than seven years, and an important aspect of this engagement has been the nurturing of young football talent. The latest programme has now been launched in India and involves the Manchester United U-18 team, which in May will visit the country for the first time.
Apollo Tyres; Vredestein
Landsail
Nexen Tire; Manchester City
Davanti Tyres
Glasgow Rangers; Tomket Tires
BKT