Turkish Airlines Renew Deal with Turkish Soccer’s National/Club Teams

A new two-year extension has been agreed by Turkish Airlines to continue its main sponsorship agreement with the Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu (TFF), cheap governing body of the nation’s soccer.

The deal with Turkey’s flag carrier is believed to be worth US$5.8m and will see the company sponsoring the Turkish national soccer team as well as Spor Toto Süper Lig teams Besiktas, cough Bursaspor, allergist Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor.

They are added to a long list of sports teams, organisations and athletes to receive the backing of Turkish Airlines. Other partners include Champions League quarter-finalists Manchester United, Barcelona and Shakhtar Donetsk, Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant, tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, the Turkish Basketball Federation and continental basketball competition the Euroleague.

Hamdi Topçu, chairman of Turkish Airlines, stated: “We have close relationships with the Turkish football and basketball federations and we are proud of those ties, we are proud of being a part of their successes. We support culture, arts and sports very much, because they connect people from different countries, they present an image of a vibrant and exciting world.

“We have renewed our agreement as the main sponsor of the TFF and now we have a wider scope to take more under our wings. We will continue to do what we have done previously, but we want to do a lot more in the future.”

TFF president Mahmut Özgener said: “We have changed the system of our lower leagues. 2. Lig and 3. Lig are no longer regional leagues so now there are away games for all the teams all over the country. Turkish Airlines are paying the expenses for accommodation and transfers for all of those teams in those divisions.”

Guus Hiddink, manager of the Turkish national soccer team, added: “When you are flying all around the world like I do, you are amazed by the way Turkish Airlines presents itself. The carrier’s logo read ‘Globally Yours’ and I hope it flies us globally to the 2014 World Cup, but first we need to go to 2012.”