The FINANCIAL — Gulf, one of the biggest oil companies in the Georgian market, has become a sponsor of FC Dinamo Tbilisi for one season.
“Sport and healthy lifestyle are the main priorities of Gulf,” said Guram Gogishvili, Vice President of Gulf. “That’s why we decided to become a sponsor of the most famous Georgian football club Dinamo Tbilisi. Our company is maximally involved in sporting life. In my opinion, business must always support sport as it develops a healthy lifestyle in the country.”
Gulf officials told The FINANCIAL that they will start supporting the club’s activities soon and the amount of investments will be announced later as well.
“We have high hopes from this partnership,” said Zura Pololikashvili, General Director of FC Dinamo Tbilisi. “Many companies are interested in partnership with us. But while signing the contract we don’t only pay attention to their financial value. Our sponsors have to attract viewers to the stadium. We will use the large chain of Gulf filling stations to achieve this. The results of a one year partnership will show how our collaboration will continue in the future.”
Gulf has celebrated the entry of the 10th ship in Poti port from Europe last week. Company said it will increase the import of european oil products to meet demand at local market.
Sponsoring sport is somehow a new trend in Georgia. More and more businesses are becoming sponsors or owners of football clubs.
Silk Net, Alfa and Aversi became official sponsors of Torpedo Kutaisi a while ago. The club is owned by another big oil company – Wissol Group.
“Wissol paid more than 1 million EUR in creating stadiums which meet UEFA’s standards,” said Levan Pkhakadze, Deputy of the Head of the Supervisory Council of Wissol and President of the club Torpedo Kutaisi.
Wissol Group invested up to 4 million GEL in infrastructure development. Apart from this amount of money, the company plans to invest 2 million GEL in the club’s development over the year.
Coca-Cola Bottlers Georgia is one of the companies that has been sponsoring sport for a long time. Now the company is an official sponsor of the school football cup. Coca-Cola shared the expenses of organizing the cup where more than 15,000 children participated. They also financed the trip of the winning team from Bolnisi to the world school football cup. The Georgian team won second place.
“It’s very important for our name to be associated with sport, football, and especially young sportsmen,” Goga Robakidze, Commercial Director of Coca-Cola Bottlers Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“A healthy lifestyle is essential in these modern times. By sponsoring young footballers we want to encourage our consumers and mostly the country’s youth to lead active and healthy lives. As well as that we support sports development in Georgia and that leads to the general development of the country,” he added.
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