In the biggest deal of its kind in Irish sport in 2015, Three has announced that it is to continue its support of the Republic of Ireland football teams with a sponsorship deal worth €8.9 million.
According to the statement issued just before noon yesterday, Wednesday, November 11th, the partnership will help the Irish national football teams continue to compete at the highest level, as well as support the FAI in its continued development of the game at grassroots level in Ireland.
As primary sponsor of Ireland’s national football teams, Three will continue to have exclusive branding rights to include training and playing gear and kit, ticket branding, high visibility pitch-side branding at the Aviva Stadium as well as money can’t buy experiences, which will be exclusive for Three customers.
The deal is a massive boost to the FAI ahead of this Friday and Monday’s play off games for a place at the Euro 2016 finals. Tickets for Monday night’s game have sold out bar a handful of premium level seats and we will be taking a look tomorrow morning at the numbers behind making it to the Finals in France.
Three announced earlier this year that they would be stepping away from sponsorship of the Irish Rugby team. It is expected that rival Vodafone will be named as their replacement early in the new year.
Commenting on the renewal of the FAI deal, Robert Finnegan, CEO, Three said: “Since 2010 we have built a very positive partnership with the FAI and we are delighted to be continuing this for the next four years. At Three, we put the fans at the heart of our collaborations, and we have many exciting initiatives already in place for football supporters, with lots more planned for the coming years as we all continue to get behind out national team.”
Welcoming the announcement FAI CEO, John Delaney said: “I am delighted to continue our partnership with Three, in a deal that will see us extend our involvement with each other, to a 10 year relationship. This extension of Three’s sponsorship of the Republic of Ireland national football team will bring us through qualifying for the World Cup 2018 in Russia, and up to the historic UEFA EURO Finals 2020, which will come to Ireland for the very first time.
“This agreement between the FAI and Three, across all of our national teams, will continue to build on what has been a very successful commercial and sporting partnership, and one that helps safeguard the future of football from grassroots right up to international level.”
Finnegan added: “An incredible 1.1 million people tuned in to watch Ireland’s historic win over Germany in October. Football is not only drawing huge numbers of viewers and spectators with sell out matches in the Aviva Stadium, but also continues to be the most popular sport in the country for people to participate in. This is only set to increase with some very exciting times ahead for Ireland’s footballing public which will hopefully see us competing in EURO 2016 in France and the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018 and at Three, we look forward to being a part of this.”
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