Standard Chartered Bank, the British-based financial services firm, has renewed its principal partnership with English soccer giants Liverpool FC (LFC) for a further four years.
The new deal, announced today (July 14), will run until the end of the 2026-27 season, by which point the pair will have clocked up a partnership of 17 years.
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The renewal is reportedly valued at more than £50 million ($60 million) per year, a significant increase on the previous agreement struck in 2018, which was worth around £40 million per annum.
The Standard Chartered logo will continue to feature on the front of the shirts of both the club’s men’s and women’s teams, with LFC Women to benefit from increased investment following their promotion back to the top-tier Women’s Super League.
As part of the agreement, the bank will also work with Liverpool to increase participation in the women’s game.
The two will additionally continue to support Standard Chartered’s sustainability and community investment programs, such as Futuremakers, which tackles inequality among young people by promoting greater economic inclusion.
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By GlobalDataOf the new deal, Billy Hogan, chief executive officer of LFC, said: “This is a hugely significant partnership for LFC and I could not be prouder to confirm a four-year extension to our already long and successful partnership with Standard Chartered.
“We have been on an incredible journey together and Standard Chartered’s support has been a key driver in our most recent successes, both on and off the pitch, with their loyalty and commitment to Liverpool Football Club.
“Our partnership has been able to thrive because of our shared values and we look forward to continuing to work together to help and support our communities and supporters around the world.”
When Standard Chartered became Liverpool’s main sponsor in 2010 through a four-year, £80-million (then $121.8-million) deal, it ended the club’s lengthy association with Danish beer brewer Carlsberg, which dated back to 1992.
A series of renewals that saw the relationship extended first to the end of the 2015-16 campaign, then to the end of 2018-19 season, and most recently until the end of the upcoming 2022-23 season have charted Liverpool’s rise back to the pinnacle of English and European soccer.
When the current owners Fenway Sports Group (then New England Sports Ventures) took over in 2010, the club was in dire straits, having been laden with debt by the unpopular previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr and seen a huge fall from grace in sporting terms.
By contrast, Liverpool are in rude financial health today, not least through a lucrative kit deal with Nike, have seen two of the stadium’s four stands renovated to increase its capacity, and have moved to a new training ground.
In 2019-20, they won their first domestic top-flight title for nearly 30 years, and, in May, they played for the third time in five seasons in the final of the Champions League top-tier continental clubs competition.
Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis at GlobalData Sport, commented: “Standard Chartered renewing its deal with Liverpool highlights the benefit of long-term commercial partnerships, with the decade-plus-long tie-up extended for a further five years at a likely increase on the $40-million annual value at which the current deal is valued.
“Liverpool’s recent success and the obvious appeal of the club in Asia and the US gives Standard Chartered a strong footprint in these target markets.
"Additionally, this deal shows the strength of the financial services market as a key sponsorship sector, with it contributing to over 600 sponsorship deals in the first half of 2022 and still able to compete with the cryptocurrency sector, which has been dominating the sponsorship industry over the past 18 months.”
