ENGLISH PREMIER League champions Manchester United have added another telecommunications partner to their burgeoning sponsorship portfolio in a two-year content deal with Arabic mobile company, Du.
Joining a host of other overseas mobile partners, Du will give Manchester United fans in the United Arab Emirates exclusive club content straight to their mobile phones. Frontiers values the deal at between £1m and £2m per year.
According to the Frontiers Deals Database, Manchester United has similar agreements with 11 other telecoms companies to provide content to fans across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The most lucrative of these partnerships is that with Saudi Telecom (STC), valued at around £18.5m over a five year period.
With 12 telecommunications partners on their sponsorship roster, all paying at least £1m per season, along with a plethora of other multi-tiered backers including principal sponsors Nike (£25m per year) and Aon (£20m per year), it is little wonder as to why Manchester United are Britain’s wealthiest club and the world’s third richest team behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, according to the 2011 Deloitte Football Money List.
The new partnership with Du is the latest example of the club's soaring popularity in the Middle East, a region which now boasts a reported 56 million Manchester United fans.
Official telecoms partners of Manchester United:
| Partner | Coverage |
| STC | Saudi Arabia |
| 3 Indonesia | Indonesia |
| PCCW | Hong Kong |
| TM | Malaysia |
| Globacom | Nigeria, Ghana, Republic of Benin |
| VIVA | Bahrain |
| VIVA Kuwait | Kuwait |
| MTN | South Africa, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Swaziland, Botswana |
| Airtel | India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles |
| Airtel Africa | Burkina Faso, Chad, DR Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania |
| Beeline | Vietnam |
| Du | Saudi Arabia |