QATAR NATIONAL BANK (QNB) has agreed a two-year sponsorship deal with French football team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Under the terms of the deal, QNB will receive branding space at PSG’s stadium Parc des Princes, as well as at PSG training facilities and on the club website.
Despite the low-level visibility, it is thought QNB has invested a significant sum of money in the club with an eye on acquiring a more high profile sponsorship role in the future. Frontloaded values the deal at between €2m and €3m per year.
The partnership comes as little surprise considering the club’s Qatari links – PSG was bought by the Qatar Investment Group in May 2011 – and QNB’s ambitions to highlight its brand and financial operations outside of the Middle East.
It might not be all positive news for PSG though. More Qatari money is likely to cause unrest with the club's current front-of-shirt sponsor Emirates. Based in the rival Gulf state of the United Arab Emirates, the airline migh just consider the increasing influence of Qatar too much to compete with when the time comes to renew its €6m-a-year deal in 2014.
The new partnership with QNB is also an illustration of a new commercial approach at PSG following the Qatari takeover.
The club signed a 10-year lease agreement with sports marketing agency Sportfive in 2008, whereby all commercial activity would be handled externally.
However, due to Sportfive’s 13 per cent commission fee, the deal was identified as a waste of money by the club’s new owners and consequently terminated, despite bringing in around €18m to PSG annually.
Jean-Claude Blanc, ex-president of Italian club Juventus, has been installed as PSG’s new chief operating officer to oversee and negotiate commercial partnerships from within.
By Luke Harman
luke.harman@sportbusiness.com