Sunderland AFC has announced that BFS Group Limited will become the club’s new principal partner from season 2013-14. BFS Group is the main UK operation of The Bidvest Group Limited, which is headquartered in South Africa will replace Invest in Africa as the team’s main shirt sponsor.
The Bidvest Group is a global business operating across a range of sectors with over 105,000 employees across four continents. It also operates the largest global foodservice business outside North America and has significant presence in the UK market.
Sunderland AFC has announced that BFS Group Limited will become the club’s new principal partner from season 2013-14. BFS Group is the main UK operation of The Bidvest Group Limited, which is headquartered in South Africa will replace Invest in Africa as the team’s main shirt sponsor.
The Bidvest Group is a global business operating across a range of sectors with over 105,000 employees across four continents. It also operates the largest global foodservice business outside North America and has significant presence in the UK market.
For Sunderland AFC, the partnership also aims to build on its growing affiliation with the African continent, started by its ground-breaking link up with the Invest in Africa initiative and recent collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
The partnership includes sponsoring the players’ shirts, perimeter advertising and involvement from the players in local community events in the UK. The Bidvest Group also owns Bidvest Wits, one of the largest football clubs on the African continent and Sunderland AFC will be able to share coaching and business expertise with the South African club.
Sunderland suffered some damage to their carefully nurtured reputation when they appointed Paolo di Canio as manager, but like all media storms, this one subsided and the focus is now on his unorthodox management style. In a way it’s refreshing to see a manager crack down on players, but he is also up against powerful vested interests.