April 9 – Russian Railways has become an official sponsor of the 2018 Russia World Cup, taking a third-tier regional association alongside Alfa-Bank and Rostelcom.
The rail company will be granted brand association rights for its region as part of the agreement.
Russian Railways is providing 880,000 free journeys to match ticket holders, 440,000 of them have already been booked. The company has also scheduled an additional 728 long-distance trains on 31 routes between the opening and final matches.
Local sponsor partners for the 2017 World Cup have been hard to find but Russian Railways is the second partner in what could yet prove to be a late flurry of local support.
At the end of March Russian telecoms operator Rostelecom was unveiled as a local sponsor.
Rostelecom will receive a range of rights, including LED board exposure at matches during the tournament and the opportunity to run ticket raffles. The company will also receive brand association rights for its region.
“We are very happy to add a market leader of the broadband and pay-TV markets in Russia to Fifa’s line-up of regional supporters,” said Fifa’s chief commercial officer Philippe Le Floc’h.
He will be even happier if he can add a few more between now and June to a sponsorship roster that has been a hard sell to date. No figure was announced for either the Russian Railways or Rostelcom sponsorships.
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