Facebook denies England team sponsorship

Social networking site Facebook has denied reports that it is in advanced talks with the Football Association (FA) about becoming the new major sponsor of the England national team.

Current sponsor Nationwide is set to discontinue its backing of the team at the end of the month, and it has been claimed that Facebook was one of four companies vying for the contract.

Telecommunications companies 02 and Orange, as well as banking group Santander have been named as the other on the shortlist, but Facebook has denied it is in talks with the FA.

In a statement released by the company, it said: “Facebook is not in talks with the England football team regarding sponsorship. I don’t know where it has come from but it is not true. It’s bizarre.

“We obviously work with lots of different brands and the FA have used the Facebook platform and the England team have a page. We’ve obviously been talking to them about those sorts of things, just like any other brand.”