By Mark Baber
April 23 – One of the longest shirt sponsorships in professional football is coming to an end as PSV Eindhoven and Philips announced on Wednesday that Philips will no longer be the shirt sponsor of PSV from the start of the 2016-17 season.
PSV Eindhoven was set up by the Dutch multi-national in 1913 and the club has carried the Philips name on its shirts since 1982 – with the PSV in the club’s name standing for ‘Philips Sport Vereneging’, Dutch for Philips Sports Association.
Recently, Philips has been focusing its business on the medical equipment, healthcare and lighting sectors, a strategic move which continues despite the failure of the company’s planned sale of its consumer electronic division to Funai Electric.
A statement on the PSV website announced that: “Starting from the 2016-2017 season, Philips will no longer be on the PSV strip.”
PSV club director Toon Gerbrands said, “We understand the impact of this moment but the bonds remain as strong as ever…The aim is for PSV to increase its revenues with a new sponsorship contract.”
Philips will continue to sponsor the club at a level lower that the current €5 million to €7 million a year, focusing on PSV Eindhoven projects to do with healthcare. The way is now open for another company to associate itself with one of Holland’s most successful clubs and the one which ran away with the Eredivisie this season.
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