V.League receives big sponsorship deal
The nation’s top football division V.League 1 has found a new sponsor to provide support for a five-year period.
Masan Group, one of the largest private companies in Việt Nam in terms of market capitalisation, signed a contract with the Việt Nam Professional Football (VPF) Company, which manages the country’s leagues, on Wednesday in Hà Nội.
Following their deal, the tournament will be called Wake-up 247 V.League 1-2019, as Wake-up 247 is a Masan brand of energy coffee drinks.
The value of the contract was not disclosed but Masan representative Trương Công Thắng confirmed that it was not less than the VNĐ40 billion (US$1.724 million) that VPF received from their previous partnership deal last year. The sponsorship, which will be increased yearly, is worth up to hundreds of billions of đồng over the five-year term.
Thắng also said Masan would end the sponsorship deal if cases of match fixing were discovered.
The V.League 1 will officially kick off across the nation on February 23, but the first match between Thanh Hoá and Becamex Bình Dương will be held on February 21.
The competition consists of 182 matches over 26 rounds with video assistant referee technology applied.
The winning side will pocket VNĐ3 billion and earn the chance to represent Việt Nam in the AFC Champions League.
