By Jaroslaw Adamowski
July 28 – Czech club Slavia Prague has secured betting operator Fortuna as its new shirt sponsor in a three-year deal.
“We believe in Slavia’s potential, we want to help it get back into the upper part of the league table,” said Zdenek Lang, marketing director at Fortuna. “Slavia, by its nature, must be one of the strongest Czech football clubs, and we decided to help it.”
In the 2013/2014 season, Slavia finished 14th out of the 16 Czech sides competing in the top tier. The club was preceded by rival Prague-based sides Bohemians 1905, ranked 13th, Dukla Praha, ranked 7th, and Sparta, which won the championship of the Czech Republic.
In recent years Slavia has struggled to stay financially afloat, though the new sponsor is expected to bring financial stability to the club’s budget.
The value of the sponsorship deal was not disclosed but local reports are that the club’s budget for 2014 will remain at the same level as the previous year – at CZK 115 million (€4.2million).
“In this field, there are no changes. Slavia is well prepared for [this] season,” said Jiri Vrba, a spokesperson for the Czech side.
Established in 2009 and based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Fortuna Entertainment Group is active in the Polish, Czech and Slovak betting market.
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