Puma agreed to a long-term deal to return to sponsoring Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, "as it seeks to rebuild its credentials as a sports brand." Puma said in a statement that it would start sponsoring Monchengladbach from July '18, "taking over from Italian brand Kappa," which has supplied the team since '13. It previously was the team's official supplier from '76-92. Puma could pay up to €100M ($106.7M) over 10 years for the deal, Germany's Express newspaper reported (REUTERS, 4/3).
Before the start of the Indian Premier League season, Chinese phone company Gionee "bagged the principal sponsor rights" for Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore, joining compatriots such as VivoBSE, Oppo and Lenovo-owned Motorola in "grabbing rights for the country's most-watched and highly expensive sport." Gionee is the principal sponsor for the Kolkata Knight Riders and "its latest buy comes in at a time when it has also signed up Kohli, as its main sports brand ambassador." The company -- which will spend around Rs 75 crore ($11.3M) on cricketing activities this year -- "will get rights for the front jersey for KKR and RCB" (ECONOMIC TIMES, 4/3).
Super Rugby side Western Force announced Fortescue Metals Group is continuing its sponsorship with the club for the next two years. Fortescue has been a jersey sponsor of Western Force since '14 with the company's logo featured on the back of the number seven jersey, worn by Matt Hodgson (Western Force).
The England women’s football team "joined forces with advertising agency Matta to help increase awareness and participation in the game" with the new campaign, "Unleash Fierce." The campaign was launched as the squad for the Lionesses team for the UEFA Women’s European Championships 2017 was announced on Monday (ISPORT CONNECT, 4/3).
Serie A side Sampdoria agreed to a shirt sponsorship deal with Lino Sonego Int'l Seating. The Veneto-based company will "serve as a second-level sponsor" of the club, with its logo set to appear on the players' matchday jerseys for the rest of the '16-17 season. Sampdoria has been "playing without a shirt sponsor in recent games, following the end of a brief agreement with travel operator Veratour." No financial terms were released (SOCCEREX, 4/3).
Ireland's men's national football team will "sport New Balance kits" for its 2018 World Cup qualification run. Umbro's 23-year association with the FA of Ireland will end this summer as its distributor in Ireland, Toplion, "proposed a switch." FAI execs agreed to the change and the team "will debut the new jersey for the World Cup qualifier away to Georgia in September" (THE SUN, 4/2).
Sultan of Selangor Sharafuddin Idris Shah received sponsorship pledges amounting to RM1.06M ($361,378) for the 2017 Sultan of Selangor Cup to be held at the Singapore National Stadium on May 6 (NEW STRAITS TIMES, 4/3).
