FC Groningen powered by Essent extension

Dutch Eredivisie football club FC Groningen has extended its main sponsorship deal with energy company Essent through to 2017.

The new four-year agreement, from 2013-14 to 2016-17, comes as a three-year deal between the two parties nears its expiration.

Essent’s branding will remain on the players’ shirts, as well as around the club’s stadium.

Essent has worked with Groningen on a number of energy-saving initiatives, and the two parties will collaborate on the development of Groningen’s Top Sports Health Care Centre, a new training complex that will be constructed through a totally carbon neutral process.

Peter Terium, chief executive of Essent’s parent company RWE, said: “With our shared ambition to make the club sustainable and to make it the greenest club in the Netherlands, it would be too early to halt our cooperation after just three seasons.”