Scottish Premier League soccer club Hearts has unveiled a two-year shirt sponsorship agreement with online short term loan company Wonga.com.

Starting from next season, the Wonga.com logo will appear on the front of the team’s home and away shirts, replacing current sponsors Ukio Bankas, the Lithuanian bank run by Hearts’ owner Vladimir Romanov.

Wonga.com is extending their sponsorship ties in British soccer having already signed a kit deal with English Premier League soccer team Blackpool FC and the FA Cup matches shown on ESPN.

Although no financial details of the contract have been released, it is believed to be the largest shirt sponsorship in Scottish soccer outside of the Old Firm teams of Rangers and Celtic. Wonga.com however, is likely to be paying Hearts slightly less than the US$1m it currently gives Blackpool FC.

Errol Damelin, chief executive of Wonga.com announced: “Hearts is a club with a great history and they are having a really strong season so we were very keen to support them when the opportunity came up. The club shows real class on and off the pitch and we’re excited about being involved from next season onwards.”

Gary Locke, first team coach of Hearts added: “I’m not sure if this adds money to the coffers and allows us to bring in one or two more players but I’m sure the manager and the owner will have that in hand. It’s a big deal for the club and shows we are moving in the right direction. It’s a great day and hopefully we can add to the success of this sponsorship deal by doing a job on the pitch.”

Base Batteries have reached an agreement with Formula One’s Hispania Racing, by which the Indian battery giants will become the official battery supplier of the racing team during the 2011 season.

Mr. Aditya Arora, COO, Base Batteries, stated: “We are thrilled to continue our international sporting partnership, this time with the Formula 1 Hispania Racing Team and look forward to a successful season. This is a natural progression, ensuring exposure for Base Batteries on a global stage in one of the world’s most prestigious sporting arenas, through its partnership with the Hispania Racing Team.”

He added: “As an official partner of the young F1 team, we will use the sponsorship both for brand building in key regions as well as offer ongoing opportunities for our business partners to get involved in this exciting racing event”.

Jose Ramón Carabante, President of Hispania Racing, said: “We’re very happy to have reached an agreement with Base Batteries, one of the leading battery companies in India. They will be an official supplier. We are setting the base for the project we are still shaping out since last year. I am convinced that this deal will help us to keep growing, enabling us to evolve into a more competitive team which desires to accomplish its targets”.

Colin Kolles, Hispania Racing Team Principal, stated that “for us India is one of the largest growing markets. By signing Narain, who is the number 1 Indian driver, we expected that Indian companies would support us. We are very proud to announce another Indian sponsor with Base who will help us to move the team forward.”

The three-year contract makes Base Batteries the “official Battery supplier” and the Base Batteries logo will be prominent on the racing car.

The BT Paralympic World Cup has today, April 28, announced that the John Lewis Partnership has become a sponsor of the event’s volunteering programme.

As part of their partnership with the event, 50 Partners from John Lewis and Waitrose have the opportunity to volunteer at the BT Paralympic World Cup in various roles including competition venue assistants for event services, VIPs and media, and transport liaison.

Simon Wardell, Development Manager, Partners in Sport, John Lewis Partnership, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the BT Paralympic World Cup and I know that our Partners are looking forward to the opportunity to help out at such an exciting event.

“As a business, we are already engaged in lots of activities in the run up to London 2012, whether it be through John Lewis’s sponsorship as the official department store provider to London 2012 or, through our Partners in Sport programme.”

BT Paralympic World Cup spokesperson, Mark de St Croix added: “We are delighted to welcome John Lewis Partnership on board as the official sponsor of the BT Paralympic World Cup 2011 volunteering programme.

“Volunteers are crucial to the event’s success and it could not take place without their dedicated help and support throughout the competition. John Lewis’s involvement has added great value to the programme including the addition of a post-event volunteer celebration in the John Lewis Trafford Store.”

The BT Paralympic World Cup is the largest annual international multi-sport competition in elite disability sport. BT is entering its third year as title sponsor, in a sponsorship which runs up to and includes the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced that BNP Paribas will become the new title sponsor of the World Team Cup wheelchair tennis event in 2012.

The deal will last for five years, anesthetist running through 2016, after the sponsorship was announced today, April 28, at the 27th World Team Cup taking place in Pretoria, South Africa.

The World Team Cup is the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis event, often referred to as the Davis and Fed Cups of wheelchair tennis having grown with almost 200 players representing 64 teams from 34 countries this year.

BNP Paribas joined the ITF’s family of sponsors in 2001 and went on to take over title sponsorship of Davis Cup the next year. The bank first became involved in wheelchair tennis in 2009 as an Official Partner of Wheelchair Tennis, and has also been an official partner of the World Team Cup since 2009.

Additionally, the agreement includes sponsorship of Fed Cup, Junior Davis Cup, Junior Fed Cup, and the biennial Worldwide Coaches Conference and regional coaches workshops.

Alongside the sponsorship announcement, the ITF has launched a new logo for the BNP Paribas World Team Cup that was revealed in Pretoria today.

ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “BNP Paribas is an outstanding partner of the ITF at all levels of the game, thanks to its longstanding commitment to and enthusiasm for tennis. I am sure that this new sponsorship agreement will help raise the profile of the World Team Cup, which is the most prestigious event on the ITF’s wheelchair tennis calendar.”

Antoine Sire, Head of Brand, Communications and Quality for BNP Paribas, added: “Since 1993, BNP Paribas has been committed to developing wheelchair tennis in France through its support of tournaments, such as the ‘BNP Paribas Open de France Handisport’. In 2009, BNP Paribas became an official partner of the ITF’s wheelchair tennis programmes, thus giving its commitment an international dimension.

“The ITF’s integration of wheelchair tennis within its activities, and the creation of wheelchair tennis stars have made this discipline really spectacular. Wheelchair tennis is very demanding and deserves support to help develop it at the highest competition level. As part of its decision to reinforce its backing in this area, BNP Paribas will be the title sponsor of the BNP Paribas World Team Cup from 2012 for a five-year renewable period. This new partnership strengthens our long-term presence in every area of tennis.”

Switzerland’s Axpo Super League soccer club FC Luzern have secured the services of Swiss retailer Otto as the sides new main sponsor in a two year deal.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Otto logo will appear on the front of the clubs matchday shirts until the end of the 2012-13 season.

Although financial terms of the deal were not released, the deal includes an option for a third year as Otto steps up from a smaller sponsorship package with the club to replace outgoing primary sponsor STEG Computer & Electronics.

The partnership will be commemorated by giving FC Luzern supporters 10 per cent discounts on everything in their stores, with the exception of alcohol and tobacco.

Walter Stierli, the president of FC Luzern, said: “We are delighted to have won such a strong brand as our main sponsor. Above all, with Otto a nationally active company from central Switzerland gets on the chest of FC Luzern.”

Scottish Premier League soccer club Aberdeen have agreed a deal to restore a kit supply deal with sporting apparel giant Adidas.

In what is described as a “long-term partnership”, Adidas will provide the Dons with official matchday and training wear from the 2011/12 season onwards.

In addition, a limited edition badge will be used next season to commemorate the deal and Adidas will also produce a range of official replicas, which will be exclusively available to fans via the club’s website and from the club shop at their home ground of Pittodrie.

Aberdeen chief executive Duncan Fraser said: “Adidas was synonymous with the club during our most successful period and I’m sure our supporters will be absolutely delighted with the news that we are to be reunited with them. In addition, being able to secure a direct partnership with a global brand leader demonstrates our desire of where we wish to position the club.”

Steve Holland, the commercial soccer partnerships manager at Adidas, added: “Adidas and Aberdeen share some unique history from when we last partnered back in 1979-87, we are delighted to be working closely with the club once again and hope that we can both emulate some of the previous successes. Aberdeen will become an integral part of our Scottish strategy and we look forward to a very positive relationship with the club and the fans.”

English Premiership rugby club Harlequins have announced a new kit deal with O’Neills Irish International Sports Co.

The agreement will last for the next four years from the beginning of the 2011/12 season in September and mark the Irish firm’s first involvement in rugby union.

The announcement follows what Harlequins’ interim chief executive David Morgan called “a very competitive tender process” and will see the end of Kooga’s deal to manufacture the team’s kit.

Morgan added: “Like Harlequins, O’Neills are an established yet ambitious brand and we are all greatly looking forward to working with people that share our vision whilst building on our existing relationship to ensure that the partnership is a successful one. They have a hugely successful track record in kit partnerships with sports clubs and I’m sure that players and supporters alike will be very happy with both the quality and style of the kit that they produce over the coming four seasons.”

O’Neills’ UK sales manager Susie Robertson stated: “Initial meetings regarding the 2011/12 kit requirements have been extremely successful and the Club has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside.

“We look forward to supporting the club and their supporters wholeheartedly throughout the contractual term by providing innovative merchandise to a quality deserving of the Harlequins licensed logo.”

English Premier League soccer side Bolton Wanderers have signed a two-season extension with 188Bet to take their shirt sponsorship deal with the in-play betting firm up until the end of the 2012/13 season.

188Bet began their shirt sponsorship of the club at the start of the 2009/10 campaign.

Though financial terms of the renewal have not been released, clinic based on the club’s previous deal the agreement is thought to be worth around US$1m annually.

Andy Scott, adiposity chief executive of the Isle of Man-based gambling company, said: “We are delighted to be continuing the strong association that has been established with the Bolton Wanderers management, staff and supporters in the course of the last two seasons. We have been thrilled with the success of the team this season and wish them the very best of luck for the remainder of the league campaign.”

Bolton Wanderers chief executive Allan Duckworth added: “We are pleased to be extending our partnership with 188Bet for another two seasons, a further demonstration of our commitment to developing long-term strategic relationships with our commercial partners. Over the past two years 188Bet have been hugely supportive and we look forward to developing a range of exciting new initiatives together over the next two years as we look forward towards an 11th consecutive season in the Barclays Premier League.”

An official announcement is expected today, April 26, to confirm that the world’s leading sports apparel brand, Nike has extended its sponsorship of the Indian national cricket side, ‘Team India’, after they managed to win the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup on home soil.

The kit sponsorship renewal has been agreed for a further five years after Nike struck a deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a reported sum of around US$60.67m over the duration of the contract. 

Nike India Managing Director Tarun Puri told The Times of India: “The extension of our contract for apparel sponsorship with the BCCI is testimony to Nike’s commitment to providing the most innovative products to the Indian cricket team and to the BCCI.”

As per the sponsorship agreement, Nike’s swoosh logo will be seen on the non-leading arm of the India team players. The team will wear uniforms, practice wear, travel wear, caps, helmets, headwear, eyewear, carry bags, headbands, wristbands and athletic footwear with the Nike logo.

Additionally, Nike will also be the official licencee for apparel merchandise for the Indian team having first inked a five-year deal as team kit sponsor in 2005 for about $45m, which was extended till March this year.

German Bundesliga soccer club Mainz 05 have extended and expanded their sponsorship with Orgentec for a further three years, apoplectic with the laboratory diagnostics company becoming a stand partner at Mainz’s new stadium the Coface Arena, medstore which is due to open at the start of next season.

Since 2007, allergy Orgentec have held the naming rights to the east stand at Mainz’s existing ground, the Bruchwegstadion, which will close its doors at the end of the 2010/11 campaign.

Orgentec will also receive in-stadium advertising at the Coface Arena, with banners directly behind each goal and further logos in the area where the ground’s television screens will be, under the terms of the new agreement.

Sponsors.de report that the three-season deal, which runs until the end of the 2013/14 campaign, is worth a low seven-figure sum into a renewal which will take the company’s relationship with the club into an eighth year having originally sponsored Mainz in 2006.