The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has agreed a two-year deal with insurance firm Eurovita under which a sponsor’s brand will appear on the shirts of the country’s referees for the first time.
The agreement will run across the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons and covers games in Serie A and Serie B, along with Lega Pro – the third tier of Italian club football. Eurovita’s brand will appear on the shirt sleeves of Italian referees.
FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio said: “This is an important day as we are branding a jersey untouched for years. We are happy to welcome Eurovita Assicurazioni among our partners. The agreement will provide significant new financial resources to be reinvested in the system. It confirms the work we are doing for the promotion of the entire sporting heritage of the federation, of which the referees are a founding factor.”
Italian Referees Association (AIA) president Marcello Nicchi added: “Today is a new era, the agreement allows us to recover most of what we had to dilute in terms of resources after the cuts made by the Olympic Committee (CONI).”