Indiantelevision.com's Football Fever: South African Bank signs $30mn agreement to support Fifa for 2010 World Cup

Indiantelevision.com's Football Fever

South African Bank signs $30mn agreement to support Fifa for 2010 World Cup

Indiantelevision.com Team

(8 July 2006 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The First National Bank (FNB) is the first South African firm to sign up as a National Supporter for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in the country.

Fifa president Joseph S. Blatter and FNB CEO Michael Jordaan signed the $30 million agreement in Berlin on 6 July, one day prior to the kick-off of Fifa;s Win in Africa with Africa initiative and the unveiling of the event’s Official Emblem.

The sponsorship agreement represents by far the largest sponsorship contract in the history of the South African bank and it further underscores the strong commitment of the FNB to football.

Blatter says, “This deal marks an important moment on our joint journey to the first Fifa World Cup on African soil. The fact that FNB, a renowned South African company, has joined the sponsor family of the 2010 FIFA World Cup shows yet again how much the event is supported by the South African economy.”

FNB is the first of six National Supporters who will enjoy local rights to both the 2010 Fifa World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by South Africa during this period. The South Africans will act in their category (retail banking) as the official bank of the 2010 Fifa World Cup to provide full-service banking including commercial and corporate transaction banking as well as servicing of on-and off-site ATMs in close cooperation with FIFA Partner Visa.

Jordaan says, “From a national perspective, FNB’s involvement in the 2010 Fifa World Cup will contribute to on-going efforts to promote the growth of South Africa’s economy and help create a better life for all in this new season of joy”.

The retail bank, which was also the first company to invest significant sums of money in South African football and has been doing so since 1986, supported the South African bid for the 2006 Fifa World Cup that lost out to Germany as well as the successful 2010 bid.

Jordaan adds, “This was a visionary step which, coupled with the bank’s involvement in subsequent major nation-building soccer initiatives and our strong financial position, earned us the proud privilege of being in a position to help South Africa host the 2010 FIFA World Cup”.

Fifa’s post-2006 commercial hierarchy comprises six Partners, six World Cup Sponsors and six National Supporters for the World Cup. Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates Airline, Hyundai, Sony and Visa are the partners in the top tier of the new sponsorship model. They were awarded the highest level of affiliation to Fifa over an eight-year period. In April, Anheuser-Busch was unveiled as the first of the six Fifa World Cup Sponsors with two more sponsors to be announced soon.