Ukrainian Football League Signs Two-Year, $2M Title Sponsorship With Pari-Match

Betting company Pari-Match has become the main sponsor of the Ukrainian league championship in a two-year deal which will see the competition renamed as the Pari-Match League, according to Alexander Krassimirov of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. The deal is worth 43M Ukrainian hryvnia ($1.94M). The decision to sponsor the league is "a first for Ukrainian football which has been a victim of the conflict with Russia" and the Russian separatists having "already lost the participation of the Crimean clubs who have now created their own league following the annexation by Russia." For a long time, title sponsorship of championships and tournaments was "spurned by Ukrainian football," but obviously the difficult situation has "forced the league to change its mind" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 7/27).