The English Football League (EFL) has announced the extension of its partnership with global sports brand PUMA and the acclaimed football management simulation game Football Manager.
The partnership with Football Manager will continue for an additional year while the new deal with PUMA ensures the sports brand will supply the match ball for all EFL competitions until the end of the 2026/27 season.
The English league and PUMA had initially signed a three-year deal worth around £1 million at the start of the 2021/22 campaign to supply matchday balls to all 72 clubs in the division.
They had ended their 45-year-long association with Mitre before agreeing a deal that would see PUMA become the league’s designated match ball provider.
The one-year extension with Sports Interactive ensures that all clubs and competitions in the division will continue to appear as fully licensed entities in the upcoming edition of their franchise Football Manager 2024.
EFL Chief Commercial Officer, Ben Wright said: “We have sought to partner with brands where we can develop and cultivate our partnerships and create deeper, more impactful connections with fans, customers, and communities.
“PUMA are one of the world’s leading brands and have a distinct visibility not only on competition match days but also support some of our EFL and EFL Club’s programs and initiatives through apparel and footballs.
“Our partnership with Football Manager has also exemplifies our commercial portfolio objectives.
“The number of people playing Football Manager and engaging with EFL clubs is testament to the ever-growing popularity of the EFL.
“We thank both PUMA and Sports Interactive for the ongoing relationship and helping to continue engaging fans for this season and beyond.”
Studio Director at Sports Interactive, Miles Jacobson added: “We are delighted to announce the renewal of our partnership with the EFL.
“The league’s clubs are among the most popular with our players – in FM23, more than 40 million games were played with EFL clubs across 1.5 million unique careers.
“After three terrific play-off finals back in May, we’re looking forward to the start of the season and continuing our partnership with the EFL.”
