Sports Direct has been unveiled as the new title sponsor of both the Premiership and Women’s Premiership part of the Northern Ireland Football League.
The three-year partnership marks a new dawn for NIFL as the biggest commercial deal in the history of the league. Sports Direct takes over from Danske Bank who had been title sponsors for the previous eleven years.
The leading sports retailer has a proud heritage in football and Northern Ireland. Sports Direct currently have 22 stores in Northern Ireland, with further investment planned for 2024.
It had a short-lived partnership with the FAI in the Republic of Ireland, where it has an additional 29 stores, but since then has gone on to be a substantial sponsor with partnerships with Cork GAA, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association and the KPMG Women’s Irish Open in golf.
“We are proud to announce this landmark partnership with Sports Direct as the new title sponsor for both our Men’s and Women’s Premiership for the next three years,” said Gerard Lawlor, CEO of the Northern Ireland Football League.
“This is a huge step forward for the league as we grow commercially, and to bring a major brand like Sports Direct as a partner and sponsor is a testament to the growth of our business in recent years and that they can see the ambition we have to keep pushing forward and want to be part of that journey.”
“This is an exciting time to be involved in football in Northern Ireland and we’re delighted to be partnering with NIFL to sponsor both Premiership leagues,” added Leonard Brassell, Managing Director of Sports Direct in Ireland.
“NIFL is rich with history but also has so much to look forward to and we feel that it is the perfect fit for us.”
NIFL was founded in 2013 and currently represents the top-level football clubs in Northern Ireland, with over 350,000 fans in stadiums enjoying games each season in stadium and over 2.5 million tuning into games on TV through BBC Sport NI and Sky Sports.”
The ground-breaking partnership will feature rewards for both clubs and their loyal supporters, accompanied by innovative new promotions that will raise awareness and take the leagues to unprecedented new levels.
First to kick off will be the new Sports Direct Women’s Premiership later this month in a huge season for female football under the NI Football League. The league is expanding to a ten-team division growing to ten clubs, as the advent of professional players will make the season mean more than ever.
The inaugural Sports Direct Premiership campaign for their male counterparts will commence in August 2023, as the twelve best teams across the country will compete for the prestigious Gibson Cup trophy, the most coveted prize in football in Northern Ireland for over 140 years.
