Russia’s Alfa-Bank was announced today as the first FIFA World Cup Regional Supporter during an event in Moscow, marking an important milestone in FIFA’s commercial strategy.
As a Regional Supporter for Europe, Alfa-Bank will activate sponsorship initiatives around the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 across Russia and the European continent, where it has 745 offices and branches. Alfa-Bank will also support FIFA on a number of ticketing-related projects with the aim of enhancing services to fans.
FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura praised the partnership: “We are delighted that Alfa-Bank is joining our team of Commercial Affiliates for the 2018 FIFA World Cup as the first-ever European Regional Supporter. The staging of the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup requires many banking services, not just for the fans but also for the organisers. So it is very important for us to be able to count on the expertise and vast network of Alfa-Bank in Russia. We look forward to working with them in the delivery of these tournaments.”
The event was also attended by Petr Aven, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABH Holdings S.A. and a member of Alfa-Bank’s Board of Directors; Alfa-Bank Chief Executive Officer Alexey Marey; Alfa-Bank Chairman of the Executive Board Andrei Sokolov; Russian Presidential Aide Igor Levitin, CEO of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee Alexey Sorokin and FIFA’s Marketing Director Thierry Weil.
“The main focus of our partnership with FIFA is to contribute to delivering a successful FIFA World Cup in Russia and providing the highest levels of banking services to football fans,” Mr Aven said. “Alfa-Bank is certain that our new partnership with FIFA is a winning formula for our existing clients, many of whom are football fans, who use our services. Being a Regional Supporter offers Alfa-Bank the opportunity to acquire new customers via the extension of our current outstanding services to the many football fans attending the tournament.”
FIFA’s commercial strategy offers as many as four Regional Supporter packages for each of the five global regions: Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and Africa as well as Asia. FIFA has observed a growing interest in this new regional sponsorship approach, which offers companies that do not necessarily want to enter into global sponsorship packages a chance to be part of the FIFA World Cup™ and benefit from a significant regional presence. By doing so, FIFA ensures that the World Cup has the potential to reach an even broader target group through the support of a wider selection of blue-chip companies.
All companies who sign up as a Regional Supporter receive the key benefits of all sponsors, including LED board exposure during the events, access to tickets and brand association rights for their respective region. FIFA is currently in discussions with various companies in the five regions to review marketing opportunities linked to the brand objectives. Further announcements are planned in due course.
Further information on FIFA’s sponsorship structure can be found in the dedicated section on FIFA.com.
