Campeonato Brasileiro Série A football clubs Botafogo and Cruzeiro have signed kit sponsorship deals with betting firm Casa de Apostas and online poker company PPPoker, respectively.
Casa de Apostas has agreed a one-year deal with Botafogo through which it will receive branding rights on the shoulder area of the club’s shirt.
The agreement comes shortly after the company agreed a similar partnership with Botafogo’s Série A rival Santos.
Hans Schleier, director of marketing at CasadeApostas.com, said: “Sport is a phenomenon that manifests itself in many ways, and football, being the great national passion, is a platform of significant visibility for any brand that wishes to establish itself in Brazil.
“Still, the Casadeapostas.com group understood that it needed more than one club, it needed a passion, and the Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, as a multi-sport association, represents all of this.”
Meanwhile, Cruzeiro has claimed it will be the first football club in the world to create a dedicated poker league through its partnership with PPPoker.
The agreement will run through to the end of the 2019 season and grants PPPoker branding rights on the back of the club’s shorts.
The Liga Cruzeiro PPPoker will feature competitions, promotions and a live service operating 24 hours a day.
Cruzeiro’s commercial and new business director, Rene Salviano, said: “It’s another foreign brand we bring to Cruzeiro. We are further enhancing our brand with the addition of important corporations worldwide, as well as inaugurating a new commercial space in our uniform.
“We have brought to us a great partner in one of the fastest growing niche markets in the world. And the forecast for the Brazilian market is quite optimistic. To get an idea, the billing of virtual games in the country should jump from R$2.2bn (€481.6m/$537m) in 2017 to R$3.2bn in 2022.”