By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 10 – Poland’s Korona Kielce has signed a sponsorship deal with Kolporter, one of the country’s largest press distribution companies. Under the contract, which will be effective “until at least end of June 2018”, the club’s stadium will be renamed Kolporter Arena.
The Kielce-based club currently plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of Poland’s professional football league. The deal is estimated to be worth about 10 million zloty (€2.4 million), reported local sports daily Przeglad Sportowy.
Krzysztof Klicki, chief executive of Kolporter, was also Korona’s owner from 2002 to 2008. The Polish businessman decided to sell his stake in the club following the outbreak of a major corruption scandal which rocked Polish football and revealed a number of match-fixing cases by numerous clubs, including Korona.
As a result, Korona was fined by the Polish Football Association (PZPN) and relegated to the Pierwsza Liga for the 2008/2009 season.
The ownership in the troubled club was subsequently taken over by the city of Kielce which currently holds a 100% stake. In the current season, the city will continue to support Korona. In its budget for 2014, Kielce earmarked 7.8 million zloty (€1.9 million) for the football club. Last year, local media reported that the city was looking to sell its shares to a private investor.
Established in 1973, Korona won its first promotion to the Ekstraklasa, which back then operated under the name of Pierwsza Liga, in 2005. Its stadium has a capacity of 15,550.
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