By David Owen
June 29 – Further evidence of the Barclays Premier League’s remarkable international pulling power has emerged with a new shirt sponsorship deal announced by Swansea City. The South Wales club, whose rapid advance from the lower reaches of the professional game in Britain was underlined last season by victory in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley, has agreed a £2 million deal with a Hong Kong-based financial services provider called Goldenway.
The agreement comes at a time when observers are forecasting a new wave of international investment in European football, from Asia and elsewhere, fuelled by widespread international TV coverage of matches. Only this week, China’s Huawei was installed as the Spanish Football League’s smartphone technology partner.
Swansea City vice-chairman, Leigh Dineen, said he was convinced the club’s new partnership “will help take our global profile to a whole new level…
“I’m sure that we can establish a fantastic working relationship together as we drive both businesses forward over the next 12 months,” Dineen added.
Darren Vickers, Goldenway UK director, said the company saw sponsoring “one of the Premier League’s most exciting sides as a key marketing opportunity to help communicate our corporate philosophy.
“We pride ourselves on the speed and quality of service and we consider the high profile partnership between a Forex company and a football club as a natural fit for the future ambitions of both the club and business,” he said.
The company, which develops its own trading platforms, specialises in online services, including foreign exchange trading and precious metals.
Swansea’s on-field success has been built partly on its stylish passing game; as such, the new deal can be seen as reward for trying to entertain, rather than falling back on the unimaginative ‘five-across-the-middle’ tactics adopted by some over the years in their efforts to preserve Premier League status.
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