Sponsor on the jersey

Football and sponsors. A story long decades that last week has been enriched by a new chapter. The PSV (acronym for Philips Sport Vereniging) has announced the end of the sponsorship, at least on the uniforms, contract with the company which actually founded the club - were infact, precisely the Philips workers set up what is one of the most historic Dutch club - and they did it with a beautiful celebrating shirt made by Umbro. The uniform recalls the one worn by the PSV in 1982, the year in which the sponsor appeared on the shirts, although the relationship has been going on since 1913, year of foundation of the club.

The news, in some way sad, remind us how important – at least visually – have been sponsors on football jerseys and all the ways they have, over time, influenced our imaginary.

According to some legends, the advent of the sponsors on football jerseys it is to be traced even back to the '50s, when the Uruguayan club Penarol introduced the idea. But there are no reliable sources about it. More certain is instead the date of modern sponsorship, dating back to 1973, when Gunter Mast (grandson of the creator of Jagermaister) had the brilliant idea to put the family logo on Eintracht Braunschweig mesh.

Tires for Inter, cars for Milan

In the imagination of the Italian sponsorship perhaps the most emblematic photo is that of the Pirelli advertising campaign that portrays Ronaldo posing like Christ the Redeemer in Rio. Among the team for many years of the Moratti family and the company of Tronchetti Provera, the relationship has lasted over twenty years, with a renewal just signed. There have been several variations, such as the translation into Chinese or logo Drivers this year, and different colors (especially white, but also red and yellow - in that shirt with horizontal stripes that remains among the most beautiful in football history) but today it is hard to imagine Inter without Pirelli.

The other team of Milan, AC Milan, has repeatedly changed sponsors on the shirt, but all contracts have been pretty durable. From the heyday of Van Baster in Motta, the Pooh Jeans, one of the first sponsorships, reaching the modern Fly Emirates. Over the 90s however to become the main protagonist was the Opel, always present on the belly of the Rossoneri when the company of Berlusconi became the "most titled club in the world", with Kaka and Shevchenko and Andrea Pirlo.

The other notable exceptions of an Italian scene never really flooded with billions of sponsorship are represented by two Italian companies that, for various reasons, have linked their names to some historical teams. From 1987 to 2004 (the year of the first failure) the Parmalat logo is always visible on the jerseys of Parma, with whom it shared owner and fortunes. Those were the years of the great European Parma, with Crespo Chiesa and Buffon and (after) Mutu and Adriano.

It is remembered not so much for the long time but for the incredible historic moment instead sponsorship between Naples and Buitoni, that had the good fortune of being on the Italian mesh of greatest player in history, Diego Armando Maradona.

Germany and aggregation

As well as Milan, even the Bayern Monaco has seen intertwined for so many years successes and particularly successful sponsorship. In the late 80s it begins the partnership between the German automaker and the most famous team in Germany, which lasted until 2003, when it was not renewed his contract and (after) the Bayern was hit by billions of T-Mobile. But the recognition that the shirt of Bayern has acquired so many memorable moments (one of all: the final mad of 1999 against Manchester United) also needs to that iconic (and very stylish) symbol.

Perhaps no team in Europe, however, can boast almost patriarchal relationship between Wolfsburg and Volkswagen. The car brand is the team owner made, and its logo has never abandoned the shirt of green, except for special occasions when they moved on the sleeve.

 

English way

In the late 70s, shortly after the experiment Jagermaister, the English league he found himself in front of the first case of sponsorship of a small team Kettering Town, and decided to ban it.

A few years later, however, they could no longer resist the corporate pounds and English clubs  begin to become real giants of merchandising, up to the present condition of the Premier League as the "coolest" world championship.

Among the longest-running sponsorships of English history is that between Reebok and Bolton. The company founded in 1985 (and we also talked about here) just in Bolton quickly became an integral part of the team, who sponsored also the Wanderers in their most magical time, with Jay Jay Ococha. By Reebok it was founded also the stadium that two years ago has become the Macron Stadium, with the sale of the rights to the Italian brand.

If you think of Liverpool and sponsors, the most immediate association is to Carlsberg: Danish beer in fact signed with Liverpool's longest sponsorship deal in the history of the Premier, as many as 24 years until last season they said stop.

A year earlier it instead ended the relationship between Chelsea and Samsung, which has characterized the exponential growth of the club under Roman Abramovich, and his dedication to pillar of world football. The victory in the Champions League, Mourinho era, that of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, are all marked by the Korean phone company.

From 1982 up to 200 instead mark the imagination of millions of fans who grew up under the sign of Cantona and David Beckham was the Sharp, which has experienced incredible expansion in the European market thanks to the visibility obtained from Man Utd Sir Alex Ferguson.

Today, however, the Premier assists the invasion of petrodollars of Fly Emirates, one of the most luxurious airlines in the world, with their hands on half of the world football. From the cup of the Asian confederations, through Arsenal's stadium, up to the multi-billionaire (and chat) sponsorship of Real Madrid, PSG, Benfica and AC Milan.

 

History down

107 and 37. These are the years that have passed without Barcelona and Goteborg and one each (same) sponsor on the jersey. The Swedish team has worn the supermarket brand (born in the same city) since it was founded, triggering a real revolt at the end of the agreement.

Barcelona on the other hand, after having been for years a symbol of resistance, has succumbed to the lure of UNICEF before (however, not perceiving any compensation) and then to those of the Qatar Foundation, disappointing the hearts of many fans. Maybe someone has comforted to know that with that money son were bought Neymar and Suarez, who along with Leo Messi now put fire to Europe. Stories of money, yes, but also of feeling and icons.