April 7 – FIFA World Cup sponsor Hisense has expanded its sponsorship footprint in the US in a multi-year partnership with the United Soccer League (USL). The deal covers all of the USL’s professional and development leagues.
April 6 – UEFA have swapped Panini for Topps as its official UEFA EURO 2024 license partner for official stickers, trading cards and collectibles.
April 5 – beIN Media Group is rebuilding its broadcast relationship with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) piece-by-piece with an agreement to extend it rights to cover the 2022 AFC Champions League and AFC Cup.
April 1 – LaLiga’s brand is growing, according to the latest Brand Finance annual report that ranks brand strength by countries.
April 1 – The European sponsorship market bounced back in 2021 with a 17.8% uplift after a slow 2020, but has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, according to the 2022 ESA Sponsorship Market Overview.
March 31 – After a three-year hiatus Manchester United are taking their fan engagement event back on the road with Miami, Florida, as the first stop on April 16.
March 30 – Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain star Lionel Messi has agreed a three-year deal to promote digital fan token company Socios.com. Reports say Messi will earn $20 million from the endorsement.
March 30 – LaLiga has combined with SportBoost to create opportunities for athletes and ex-athletes by connecting them technology startups.
March 29 – Ligue 1 club AS Monaco has agreed a partnership with NFT consultancy Capital Block who will become the become the official NFT agency of AS Monaco.
March 25 – HR Company Select has withdrawn as sponsor of Antwerp following the arrival of Marc Overmars at the Belgian club. The Dutchman exited Ajax in disgrace following allegations of improper conduct.
March 25 – Premier League Liverpool have launched their first NFTs, a collection of illustrations of 24 Liverpool men’s team players based on their individual likenesses and superhero characteristics.
March 25 – The European Sponsorship Association’s Sponsorship Sentiment Tracker (SST) – a rough measure of how confident the sponsorship sector is – shows rights holders as currently the most optimistic over the health of the industry.
March 24 – Online car retailer Cazoo will become the main sponsor of Ligue 1’s Olympique de Marseille in a multi-year deal that will begin at the start of the 2022/23 season. The deal will see the brand take the club’s front of shirt logo position.
March 24 – FIFA has added Indian education technology provider BYJU’S as an official sponsor of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
March 24 – The Dutch FA (KNVB) have extended their 25-year main sponsorship with ING bank through to 2028. And in keeping with a financial theme have unveiled crypto exchange Bitvavo as a new sponsor.