New Zealand-based A-League football team Wellington Phoenix has signed a three-year extension to its shirt sponsorship agreement with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.
The two parties’ new deal will run until the end of the 2018-19 A-League season. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, although the club claimed it marks the largest sponsorship deal in New Zealand football history.
As part of the deal, the club will return to Hong Kong for a pre-season friendly this summer, with a further match expected to take place in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
Wellington Phoenix is currently the only New Zealand-based club playing in the A-League, the top tier of domestic football in Australia. Its three-year agreement with Huawei was due to expire at the end of the current 2015-16 season.
“Huawei have become integral to the way we do things at the Phoenix,” the club’s general manager David Dome said. “They are included in all the major decisions that we make as a club.”
The club’s immediate A-League future was secured in February when Football Federation Australia (FFA) granted it a 10-year license to continue operating in the division.
Wellington Phoenix was Huawei’s first major football partnership, and since signing on with the club, Huawei’s stable has grown to include such teams as Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico de Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Benfica.