Barcelona is "negotiating a four-year extension" of its shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways. The club extended the initial agreement by one more season this summer "while continuing to hold talks with other companies with regards to next summer." The Barça board took the decision to continue with Qatar Airways "due to the lack of time they had to reach an adequate agreement." Since then, Barcelona has "scoured the market," but Qatar Airways remains at the table. Qatar decided to up its "current offer" of €35M ($39.4M). Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said, "We didn't have time to negotiate an appropriate agreement with them, for that reason we decided to extend for one more season. We are in talks with them to extend it again over a four year period" (SPORT, 9/7).
LYON TIE-UP: French Ligue Magnus ice hockey team LHC Les Lions and Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais announced a major partnership. OL President Jean-Michel Aulas and Les Lions President Sébastien Berthet announced the partnership at a joint press conference on Thursday. The deal was initiated with organizing of the Ligue Magnus Winter Game at the Parc OL, to be played on Dec. 30. The OL logo will be featured on Les Lions’ jersey, the club’s home ice and digital platforms. OL will also support Les Lions through investment and sharing expertise (LHC Les Lions).
LAST ONE: UEFA and manufacturer Würth announced a partnership that sees Würth become UEFA's seventh and final official sponsor for the European Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. As part of the agreement, Würth will benefit from a range of promotional rights for the qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup, including visibility on perimeter board advertising across Europe. Würth joins Carlsberg, Continental, Hisense, Konami, Socar and Turkish Airlines as official sponsors, with adidas as the official ball supplier (UEFA).
MARKETPLACE BRIEFS ...
Japanese motor manufacturer Honda agreed to "a major sponsorship deal" with Serie B side AC Cesena. Honda will "become the club’s exclusive automotive supplier, and it’s Cesena-based dealership Ricci Due will receive branding at Cesena’s Stadio Dino Manuzzi home ground" (SOCCEREX, 9/8).
Premier League side Stoke City announced Sharp in conjunction with Altodigital as an official partner. The club signed a two-year agreement with Altodigital, a Sharp retailer, which will see Sharp branding on a range of Stoke City inventory, including South Stand naming rights (Stoke City).
