Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank to sponsor UFL

ABU DHABI — Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a top-tier Islamic financial services group, announced that it had signed a sponsorship agreement with the UAE Football League (UFL). With this sponsorship, ADIB becomes the exclusive official bank of the UFL.

Published: Fri 20 Aug 2010, 12:28 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 3:54 AM

The sponsorship is in line with ADIB’s strategy of being associated with football as a platform to connect with its core customer base and to develop and deliver innovative products and promotions. It aims to aid in the development of UAE youth and help build communities around football.

Petr Klimes, SVP and Group Marketing Director at ADIB said: “ADIB’s UFL sponsorship demonstrates our intent to reach our customers throughout the UAE and to deliver a unique value proposition that is relevant to them as passionate and loyal football fans. Our sponsorship will also help promote the beautiful game in the UAE and grow its appeal amongst various audiences.”

As part of the sponsorship, ADIB will introduce a new football card product for fans to carry their club’s name on and to support football through the card’s usage. The card will not only be a feature-packed international covered card (a Shari’a compliant alternative to credit card) but it will also provide its users a range of football related benefits and privileges.

Commenting on the new sponsorship, UFL CEO Carlo Nohra said: “We are delighted to welcome ADIB on board as an official partner of the UFL. We have some exciting plans for the season ahead and look forward to working closely with them to ensure the sponsorship benefits everybody, and in particular the fans across the UAE through new consumer-focused initiatives.”

“The UFL sponsorship demonstrates our intent to share in the passion of football fans throughout the UAE. Supporting football is our long term strategy as we believe in the future of UAE’s youth and their development through football. There are many highly talented young players and the recent achievements of the UAE youth national team confirms that the future of UAE football is bright,” added Klimes.

As part of the partnership, ADIB will exclusively present the Best Under-21 Player of the Season Award, will have the right to issue UFL club-specific payment cards and will look to implement a number of other initiatives.

The UFL represents the UAE’s 12 professional football teams and is responsible for organizing and managing the Etisalat Pro-League, Etisalat Cup, Etisalat Super Cup and the Etisalat Challenge League according to the rules and regulations of the UAEFA, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA, the world governing football body.