Al Wasl ink two-year deal with Al Wathba National Insurance

Ashraf Mohammed; Bassam Chilmeran and Nabil AbdulKarim at the conference to announce the sponsorship deal between Al Wasl and Al Wathba National Insurance. — KT photo by Rahul Gajjar

Al Wasl announced they’d agreed to a two-year sponsorship deal with Al Wathba National Insurance Company at Zabeel Stadium on Wednesday.

The penned contract, which will initially run for two seasons from the start of the 2014/15 campaign, will see Al Wathba take care of the relevant insurance requirements for the Cheetahs’ Emirati and foreign players.

There’s also a verbal understanding to extend the signed terms beyond its current duration, if both parties are mutually agreeable to a continuation of what’s currently perceived to be a “win-win situation” for the club and sponsor alike.

“We saw this as a unique opportunity for collaboration with such an important entity within the UAE,” said Bassam Chilmeran, the general manager at Al Wathba National Insurance Company.

“Al Wasl is a very well-known club. They have fans not only in Dubai, but all over the country.

“We believe this collaboration will assist us in further expanding other areas of co-operation.

“We believe this will have as great a benefit to Al Wathba as it will for Al Wasl. We maybe will be providing them with our services, but it will be a good opportunity for us to flag our name all over the place whenever Al Wasl is playing a game.”

His counterpart at Wasl, Ashraf Mohammed, added: “Al Wathba National Insurance Company is one of the main insurance companies in the country and they will be taking care of all of the medical testing and Fifa requirements with regards to all of the players.

“We’ve decided to do this as a joint venture, which will allow us to think about - and develop - this sector of our respective operations.

“We both couldn’t be happier. We’re very pleased with the contract and we want to extend it for a longer period.

“In the near future, we’ll hopefully extend it to more than the two-year duration and it will cover more of the other sports that we have within the sports club.”