The South Africa Rugby Union, the sport’s national governing body, has renewed its partnership with Coca-Cola in a deal that will see the soft drinks group continue to serve as an associate sponsor of the Super Rugby competition in the country.
Coca-Cola South Africa’s new deal with the competition, which pits club teams from southern hemisphere nations and Japan against one another, will run until 2018 after it agreed a three-year extension with SARU.
The company will also continue to serve as the title sponsor of SARU’s Youth Week tournaments for the next three years. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
In addition, Coca-Cola South Africa will continue to provide backing to the Coca-Cola Schools of Excellence programme, which seeks to develop the skills of young rugby players that have come from underprivileged backgrounds.
SARU chief executive Jurie Roux said: “Their commitment to rugby development and transformation through their support of the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks and the Coca-Cola Schools of Excellence programme is commendable, and with their backing we believe we will be in a good position to achieve our transformation goals as set out in our Strategic Transformation Plan.”
Coca-Cola South Africa first partnered with SARU in 1997.