By Mark Baber
March 31 – The efforts of Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister and President of the Russian Football Union (RFU), to put the finances of Russian football on a solid foundation have received another boost as Russia’s second biggest mobile operator MegaFon has signed an agreement with the RFU to become a general sponsor of Russian football from 2016 until 2018.
According to a press release from MegaFon, which is a private company part-owned by Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov: “The signing of this agreement is another step in strengthening the mobile operator’s partnership with the Russian Football Union and another stage in the Russian sport support program MegaFon has been implementing for many years.”
Mutko commented on the new deal saying: “Partnership with MegaFon allows us to bring socially important projects to life. For ten years already we have been successfully running The Future Depends On You football competition for teams from children’s homes across the whole of Russia. We are very pleased to continue and expand our partnership. Our plans include tackling even bigger tasks when it come to boosting interest in football. Thanks to MegaFon’s support we can continue our efforts to make this sport more popular.”
Ivan Tavrin, CEO, MegaFon, said: “I believe that developing sport in Russia is one of the priorities not only on the government level but also for a socially responsible business. For Alisher Usmanov and MegaFon, work in this area is one of the main priorities. Thanks to the technologies we have at our disposal as a leading telecommunications operator, we can ensure access to football training sessions and sports competitions for all Russians, regardless of which region or city they are in.”
MegaFon has worked with the Russian Football Union as a general sponsor since 2010 and on various social projects. New plans include a publicly available free app called ‘Mobile Trainer’ through which people will be able to train in real time following the latest methods through their smartphone or tablet – in the gym, school stadium or courtyard.
Megafon will also be operating fanzones in Russia during Euro 2016 jointly with the Russian Football Union where it will be possible to watch the main matches live.
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