Aramco all set to seal deal with FIFA

Article posted by Coliseum, November 28^th, 2023

Image: Coliseum GSVA

The Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco is set to complete a sponsorship deal with FIFA.

‘ARAB NEWS’ stated that sources close to the negotiations said that the deal, expected to run until 2034, is worth an estimated $100 million a year.

Aramco is a State-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. As of 2022, it is the second-largest company in the world by revenue and is headquartered in Dhahran. It has repeatedly achieved the largest annual profits in global corporate history.

The Fédération internationale de football association, abbreviated as FIFA, is the international governing body of association football, beach soccer and futsal. It was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations.

‘ARAB NEWS’ further stated that talks are at an “advanced stage”, the sources added, and come after the Kingdom was confirmed as the sole bidder for the FIFA World Cup™ in 2034.

If agreed, the sponsorship deal will make Aramco FIFA’s biggest-paying sponsor.

Aramco declined to comment on the report, and FIFA responded by saying it was not part of its policy to “confirm or deny any commercial discussions”, sources stated.

The oil giant already has major sponsorship deals with Formula 1 and the women’s golf circuit, as well as with the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

London (UK)-based Formula One is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950.

Paris (France)-based the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is an association established on June 20^th, 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organizations and motor car users. It is the governing body for many auto racing events, including Formula One. The FIA also promotes road safety around the world.

Dubai (UAE)-based the International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa. It was renamed as the International Cricket Conference in 1965 and adopted its current name in 1987.

Mumbai (India)-based the Indian Premier League (IPL) (also known as the TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons) is a men’s Twenty20 (T20) cricket league that is annually held in India and contested by 10 City-based franchise teams. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) founded the league in 2007. The competition is usually held in Summer between March and May every year. It has an exclusive window in the ICC Future Tours Programme (a schedule of international cricket tours) due to fewer international cricket tours happening during the IPL seasons worldwide. The IPL is the most-popular cricket league in the world.

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