Nationwide unlikely to renew England sponsorship deal

The building society Nationwide has said it is likely to end its sponsorship of the England national football team after an eleven year partnership.

It had been reported that Nationwide had tabled a US$30 million offer to extend the partnership, which is due to come to a close at the end of July. However, this was turned down by the Football Association (FA), and the building society has since said that the deal is “unlikely to be renewed”.

Sponsorship deals with the Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland teams are also expected to come to an end.

Nationwide made the initial offer to renew the contract 12 months ago, but the FA turned it down because they were confident the England team would do well in the summer’s FIFA World Cup, and so held out for a more lucrative offer. However, after a series of poor performances, England were beaten by Germany in the first knock-out stag of the competition.

A Nationwide spokesman has said: “Nationwide’s sponsorship of the England Team has been extremely successful over eleven seasons and has significantly raised the profile of our organisation. Our current sponsorship deal ends at the end of July and it is unlikely to be renewed.”

The FA has hired the help of IMG to aid in its sponsor search, with big name companies including Blackberry, O2, Facebook and Orange all rumoured to be potential suitors.

However, an unnamed branding expert told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “After the World Cup performance, the England brand is associated with embarrassment. The big global sponsors are already tightening their spending and England will be far down the list of desirable deals.”