INTERSPORT and FIBA sign major sponsorship agreement for 2009 FIBA European Championships and 2010 FIBA World Championships

INTERSPORT, the world’s biggest sporting goods retailer will be an Official Main Sponsor of the FIBA European Championships (EuroBaskets) for Men and Women, taking place in Poland and Latvia respectively in the summer of 2009, and the FIBA World Championships for Men and Women, to be played in Turkey and the Czech Republic respectively in 2010.

The agreement allows INTERSPORT to become associated with basketball, a true global discipline and one of the most popular and widely viewed sports worldwide. Indeed, with an estimated number of 450 million players and fans worldwide, basketball is the second biggest team sport in the world.

FIBA, the world governing body, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is the only basketball organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Featuring 5 Zones and 213 affiliated National Federations, the International Basketball Federation controls all national team championships in the world.

This sponsorship package provides INTERSPORT a strong advertising presence in each of the basketball venues and during all the games of the 2009 FIBA European and the 2010 FIBA World Championships. INTERSPORT logos will appear on the perimeter boards and on all sponsors recognition materials, including interview backdrops. The company will also be entitled to use the title “ INTERSPORT – Official Sponsor” or “INTERSPORT – Official Retailer” on its communicational and promotional materials.

In addition, as Official Retailer, INTERSPORT will establish FIBA event shops in certain INTERSPORT stores in the respective Host Countries.
Furthermore INTERSPORT will also run the on-site Official Event Merchandise Shops of the above-mentioned championships. These shops will offer a wide variety of Official Licensed Products of the FIBA events.

Franz Julen, CEO of IIC, welcomes the INTERSPORT/FIBA partnership: "Basketball becomes more and more popular as a sport in general. In several countries where INTERSPORT is market leader basketball enjoys great popularity. Furthermore in every INTERSPORT store the different team sports are among the most important product categories. It is our strategic intention to be present at major sports events not only with board advertising, but to link them with retail activities. The forthcoming FIBA championships are ideal for this purpose."

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann stated:

This agreement represents a very important step for the International Basketball Federation from a commercial perspective. FIBA and its competitions are continuously growing and becoming more professional and competitive in all areas. We are proud to welcome INTERSPORT to our sponsors family. This partnership represents a major step for the Competitions Retail activities and the achievement of a higher level promotion for the EuroBasket and World Championships.

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