Tag: Soccer

As the highly anticipated FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United approaches, the focus not only lies on the intense rivalry between the two, but also around the sponsorship and partnership dynamics surrounding the clubs. 

Emirates has been the title sponsor for the prestigious FA Cup since the 2015-16 season labeling the tournament, The Emirates FA Cup. The Dubai based airline company has been a longtime supporter of English football and has also been the primary jersey sponsor for Arsenal FC since 2006.

With the teams vying for a title, both clubs’ partnerships have garnered additional attention, especially the clubs kits.

Manchester City recently announced the renewal of one of the clubs longest standing partnerships. Nexen Tire is currently the club’s jersey sleeve partner, however, the brand has made a notable change in its activation strategy. With the deal renewal, instead of brand exposure on the club’s playing kit, the tire manufacturer will concentrate on brand identity and focusing more on digital activations, creative content and increased localization in priority markets. With no jersey sleeve partner currently signed for the 2023-24 season, this leaves an open opportunity for the 60+ current sponsors to extend their partnership with the club or a new brand to come in and secure the deal.

Manchester United boasts a comprehensive structure for partnerships, divided into four tiers: Global Partners, Regional Partners, Financial Partners, and Media Partners. The Global partners receive the most exclusive rights which include stadium signage, player access, and global marketing rights. DXC, adidas, Tezos, and TeamViewer are a few brands who have this title. In December, the club announced that they would conclude its front-of-shirt deal with TeamViewer, one of their Global Partners, and seek a new sponsor in a post-COVID “normalized market”. With an opportunity to gain awareness on the front of a global team, brands will be lining up to spark a new deal with the club. The team currently has just over 40 sponsorship deals.

In the realm of social media, Manchester United holds the distinction of having the highest social media following across the Premier League. With a staggering 200M followers, they rank 3rd in Europe, behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Manchester United’s total engagement of 32M this season surpasses that of Manchester City, despite City having 2.5x the number of posts.

This Sunday, Etihad Stadium will host the 188th edition of one of the greatest football games of the season: the Manchester Derby, with both Manchester United and Manchester City vying for the win to move up the ranks of the Premier League. Off the pitch, let’s compare the teams’ endorsement deals and social media clout. 

Since 2008, when Man City was bought by the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mansour, the team had won the Premier League 6 times.

Man City’s success has attracted a slew of brand partnerships: the team has 69 sponsorship and media deals, while Manchester United has 60. In terms of sponsorships only, Man City’s 56 deals eclipse Man U’s 30. 

Manchester United has long been considered the most popular Premier League club with the widest fan base worldwide, making them one of the more exclusive teams in the league. Man U leads the Premier League on social media with an astonishing 184.7M followers combined across all channels. Man City ranks a distant 5th by this metric with 98.2M followers. Man U also dominates in total engagement with 21.5M followers–an average of 1.9M per brand–compared to Man City’s total engagement of 8.3M and per-brand average of 270K.

In the last year, Man U’s following grew 28% (vs. 16% for Man City), thanks largely to the team’s re-signing of Portuguese superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo in August 2021. The English club gained over a million followers in the two hours after the club announced the news. 

Ronaldo’s staggering 733.1M followers across all social media–almost 3x more followers than both Manchester teams combined–make him the most followed (and arguably influential) person in not just football but in the world. His 23 deals leverage this unrivaled influence: his total engagement of 196M nets out to an average of 12.2M per brand and 2.2M per post.

Meanwhile, Man City star player Kevin De Bruyne currently has deals with 8 brands and a gross social following of 43.5M, and teammate Erling Haaland has 7 deals and tallies over 20M followers. Notably, Haaland’s posts with Dolce & Gabbana, Hyperice, Samsung, and MICROMILSPEC have racked up 10M engagements this year.