MADRID: Real Madrid have agreed a new shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates airline for the next five seasons.
“It is a new era for two global brands that will help us in our quest for new triumphs,” club president Florentino Perez told a news conference at the Bernabeu Stadium yesterday.
“It is one of the most important agreements in the history of the club,” said the construction magnate who is likely to be returned to the presidency unopposed next week as no rival candidates have yet challenged him in an election.
No official figures were released for the sponsorship deal which is reported by media to be worth up to 30m euros ($38.90m) a year.
Madrid’s famous white strip will carry the slogan ‘Fly Emirates’.
The Dubai-based carrier replaces online betting firm bwin who have sponsored Real’s shirts for the last six years in a deal that was reported by consulting firm Sport+Markt to be worth around 23m euros a year.
On Tuesday, the club said bwin will become their official digital partners in a new multi-year deal as the company switches its strategy to focus on social media, gaming and the integration of online with mobile useage.
The airline deal brings Real closer to arch-rivals and La Liga champions Barcelona who have a shirt sponsorship agreement with the Qatar Foundation worth around 30m euros a season until 2016.
Last season Real became the first soccer club to pass the income threshold of 500m euros, according to Deloitte’s Football Money League ranking published in January.
Their earnings of 513m euros beat Barca into second place on 483m, with Manchester United a distant third on 396m.
Last year United announced a new sponsorship deal that will see General Motors’s Chevrolet brand on their red shirts from 2014 in a seven-year deal worth $559m - the most lucrative such sponsorship in football.
Real will finish the 2012-13 campaign tomorrow without a major trophy this season as they came second in La Liga, fell in the Champions League at the semi-final stage and lost the King’s Cup final to city rivals Atletico Madrid two weeks ago.
Angry Bayern forced to leave Brazilians out of Cup final
MUNICH: Bayern Munich defender Dante and midfielder Luiz Gustavo will miss tomorrow’s German Cup final against VfB Stuttgart after Brazil told the pair to report for training the same day, the Bavarian club said.
Bayern, hoping to complete a Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble, accused Brazil of exerting “psychological pressure” on the duo.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) wanted Dante and Luiz Gustavo to be available 14 days before the Confederations Cup, as stipulated by the rules of world soccer’s governing body FIFA. The eight-team tournament starts on June 15.
“We were forced into this step,” Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told a news conference.
“We tried to find a solution with FIFA and the German FA - the situation is unpleasant for us.
“We had the impression some sort of psychological pressure was put on the players in that it would be the end of their international careers if they did not report on time. I find that absolutely unacceptable.”
“The German FA has made a mistake in its planning,” added Rummenigge, referring to the timing of the final in Berlin and its clash with the Confederations Cup training period.
“The calendar is overloaded.”
REUTERS
