Abandoned stadiums, occupied home arenas, expatriates and empty stadiums playing to the sound of sirens. Overcome obstacles, adapt, but never give up, this is the reality of modern Ukrainian football.
The first months were very difficult, but today the complete uncertainty has been replaced by the certainty that football will endure, like Ukraine as a whole. FAVBET, a leading Ukrainian entertainment technology company that continues to support Ukrainian teams during wartime, is confident of this.
For many football fans, FAVBET is associated with the FAVBET Liga, the Ukrainian Premier League for 2019-2021, or with the kit of Dynamo Kyiv, which has been decorated with the FAVBET logo for four years in a row. Over the past four years, the club has been able to face off against almost every major league club and many first division teams.
Denis Akimov, Head of Sports Marketing at FAVBET, said: «In 2022, some of FAVBET’s sponsorship plans had to be adjusted as in February and March our first priority was employee safety, their financial support, and military assistance. When the situation stabilized a bit, we started going back to our usual work, including partnerships, because we understood that the longer we stagnate, the harder it will be for us to recover.»
Denis noted that the company already had existing contracts with Rukh and Dynamo, so cooperation was resumed as soon as the parties resolved all organizational issues. In 2022, cooperation with FC Kryvbas, which FAVBET supported in 2020-21, also resumed.
Metalist Kharkiv became a new partner at the start of the season, according to Valeria Friga, CEO of FC Metalist, cooperation with FAVBET is connected not only with the club’s performance in the Premier League, but also with the team’s youth academy, which has now moved to Chernivtsi. FAVBET has also extended partnerships with Uzhhorod’s Minay, Kolos from Kovalev and Kyiv’s Obolon for the 2022/2023 season.
FAVBET representatives noted: «It has always seemed wrong to us to consider sponsorship as a purely commercial or promotional thing. Business, as well as sport, should bring additional value to the society it develops and functions in. That’s why we view all sponsorship contracts as a partnership between the two parties united by common interests and values both on and off the pitch.»
On April 28, FAVBET held a charity match with Dynamo as part of the «Match for Peace! Let’s stop the war!» The Kyiv team played with the Croatian champions at the Maksimir stadium, organizing free admission for all Ukrainian fans, as well as a patriotic fan zone.
There have been similar internal initiatives before. For example, in the 2019/2020 season, FAVBET ran a «Come on, Score» campaign, in which for every goal scored in the FAVBET league, the amount donated to Tabletochki charity increased. The collected funds were transferred in two stages: in the middle of the season and at the end of the season.
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