MENA

Cycling
Video Games

Stephen Urquhart, president of the luxury watch brand Omega, provided Sports Sponsorship Insider with a great marketing insight when he said that the only sponsorship that clearly moved sales of its watches was Omega’s James Bond deal.

Cycling
Car Rental

The chance to create multinational marketing campaigns using teams with multinational players is central to car rental company Europcar’s sponsorship decision-making.

Football
Airlines

Qatar Airways has announced a partnership with the Qatar Stars League that will allow fans to earn air miles by attending matches in the country’s top football division.

Multi-sport
Consumer Electronics

The IOC does not expect every upcoming TOP Partner deal to hit its new price point, but the latest deals with consumer electronics brand Panasonic and tyre and rubber company Bridgestone had given it confidence, the organisation told Sports Sponsorship Insider this month.

Football
Soft Drinks

Austrian energy drinks company Power Horse has renewed its partnership with the Beach Soccer Worldwide organisation.

Football

Internet company Yahoo’s acquisition of Chelsea manager José Mourinho to write expert blogs for the duration of the 2014 Fifa World Cup has opened the door to future investment in football.

Golf
Automobile Manufacturing

German luxury car brand BMW has paid an increased fee for the right to extend its partnership with golf’s European Tour for four more years, from 2015 to 2018.

Football

Kit manufacturers spent $396m (€289m) on deals with the 32 national teams competing at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in the year covering the tournament, Sports Sponsorship Insider can exclusively reveal.

Basketball

The UAE Basketball Association has reached a long-term agreement with Dubai Duty Free under which the airport retailer has become an event sponsor of the International Basketball Federation’s (Fiba) 2014 U-17 World Championship in Dubai

Motorsport
Spirits

Diageo-owned vodka brand Smirnoff has committed the lion’s share of its global sponsorship budget for this year to a one-year major partner deal with the Force India F1 team. The deal was announced on May 1, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth race of the Formula One season.

Basketball
Airlines

Emirates has agreed to become a presenting partner and the official airline of basketball’s 2014 Fiba U-17 World Championship in Dubai.

Golf
Luxury Goods

Swiss watchmaker Omega has agreed a three-year extension to its title sponsorship of the Dubai Desert Classic and Dubai Ladies Masters golf tournaments.

Football
Financial Services

The global appeal of football is central to payment services company Western Union’s deal with the Uefa Europa League but the brand is considering refining its portfolio to reach more consumers in North America and Asia, Marc Audrit, vice president, global brand for Western Union told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Triathlon

The International Triathlon Union, triathlon’s world governing body, has seen a moderate rise in sponsorship revenue associated with its flagship ITU World Triathlon Series, despite a decline in revenue from its global partnership deals.

Golf

Dubai Aluminium (Dubal), a subsidiary of Emirates Global Aluminium, has extended its sponsorship of the Dubai Desert Classic European Tour event and Dubai Ladies Masters Ladies European Tour competition until 2017.

Athletics
Healthcare Equip. & Supplies

Active engagement with its products in order to create authenticity and improve the brand’s reputation in sport is the key driver behind nutrition company Herbalife’s sponsorship programme, Brian McKinley, senior director of corporate alliances at Herbalife, told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Sailing
Information Technology

Stefan Lacher, head of technology, sponsorships for technology company SAP, speaks to Sports Sponsorship Insider about the brand's work in the Extreme Sailing Series.

Football
Telecoms

Qatari telecommunications firm Ooredoo has signed a one-year sponsorship deal with the Qatar Football Association.