Aston Villa gives shirt sponsorship to children's charity

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 04-Jun-08, 09:10

LONDON - Aston Villa has sacrificed £2m in sponsorship revenue over the next season to wear the name of Acorns Children's Hospital on its team shirts for free.

The football team began supporting the children's hospice more than two years ago and decided to take this relationship further for the 2008/20099 season after coming to the end of a two-year shirt deal with internet gambling operator 32Red.

The deal with 32Red was believed to be worth around £2m a year.

Aston Villa and Acorns will run a series of initiatives and events to promote the partnership on a local and national level to give the public the opportunity to learn about and support Acorns' work.

Villa said in a statement: "We regard this partnership as more important and more valuable than any commercial opportunity presented to us."

The Midlands club is the first Barclays Premier League team to enter into a non-profitmaking shirt deal.

However, the move follows that of Barcelona, which signed a five-year deal with Unicef in September 2006.