German financial services company Allianz has expanded its sports venue naming rights portfolio by signing up as the sponsor of Austrian football club Rapid Vienna’s new stadium.
The venue, which will be built on the site of the top-tier Bundesliga club’s Gerhard Hanappi Stadion, will be known as ‘Allianz Stadium’. The stadium project is still being finalised, but is expected to be completed in 2016.
Allianz has already given its name to five sporting arenas across the globe, including the state-of-the-art Allianz Arena, the home of German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich.
“We're thrilled that in Allianz Group Austria we have found a long-term and renowned partner,” the club’s general manager, Werner Kuhn, said. “Allianz Stadium will be the cutting edge stadium in Austria with an intricate viewer concept and impressive architecture.”
Rapid president Michael Krammer added that ‘outstanding bureaucratic procedures’ – including planning permission – need to be finalised for the stadium project in the coming weeks. The club would play fixtures at an alternative venue while the facility is being constructed, and Rapid hopes to start building work as early as next month. Krammer added that he is confident that the procedures can be completed ‘fairly quickly.’