MUMBAI: With the football fever catching up in the country with the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), Kolkata franchise Atletico De Kolkata gained its first principal sponsor in Aircel. Sports management company Nimbus Sport, advised the two companies on their partnership.

Atletico De Kolkata team co owner Sourav Ganguly commented, “It is great to see corporate like Aircel coming forward and showing its commitment towards promoting sports in the country. We are very happy that they are with us now as principal sponsors and I am sure it is just the start of a lasting and rewarding relationship.”

Nimbus Sport COO Sunil Manocha said, “The partnership will be a game changer in the sports marketing landscape in India and represents the first large commercial partnership by a mainstream brand with a football team in India and will usher in a new era of sponsor investments into teams in India. Nimbus has been at the forefront of bringing brands with a vision, closer to the sport and had advised Liverpool FC and Xolo smartphones, on their celebrated partnership earlier this year. As a part of our strategy for sustained focus on football, we are our working on bringing two leading European clubs to India to play friendly matches in the summer of 2015.” 

Aircel chief marketing officer Anupam Vasudev said, “Aircel is a new age brand focusing on youth. Passion, agility, energy and youthfulness are the attributes which define this sport, which are also a part of Aircel’s DNA – being one of the young fastest growing telecom players in India. We are pleased to associate ourselves with Atletico De Kolkata which is the biggest team of ISL with a large dedicated region spanning entire Eastern and Central India and Bangladesh. With Players, Coach, Technical and Brand Integration with La Liga Champions, Atletico De Madrid, we hope ATK will be the frontrunner to win the first edition of ISL.”

The Aircel logo will be used on the front of team jersey and training kits under the current sponsorship arrangements.

RP Sanjiv Goenka group chairman and co-owner Atletico de Kolkata Sanjiv Goenka added, “We are delighted to have Aircel as the principal sponsor for Atletico de Kolkata and welcome them on-board. We look forward to working with them. The decision was made easy as there are definite synergies in our vision for Atletico de Kolkata. This association symbolises a shared dream of creating a successful brand and a world–class franchise.”