Commercial differences behind decision to end football sponsorship

CHRISTIES Dairies yesterday said that their decision to terminate their contract with the Cyprus Football Association (KOP) “was over a difference in opinion over commercial matters.”

Persis Christodoulou, marketing manager for the Limassol-based dairy, explained that, “the contract has been in effect for the past one-and-a-half years and will be terminated on December 31 of this year.”

When asked how much the contract was worth, Christodoulou replied that, “it was subject to our sales volumes.”

The General Manager of KOP, George Papastavrou, said that the decision was by mutual consent, “with both parties agreeing to terminate the contract”.

He said that between August 2005 and April 2006, the contract was worth £150,000.
Papastavrou stated that he was happy with the dairy, but implied that they were suffering from financial problems.

He also said that KOP would “hopefully announce a new sponsor by the end of February”.

Christies is the official sponsor of the Cyprus First Division football championship.
On Thursday, they announced that they had terminated their contract with the Cyprus Football Association. The dairy said that all references to the “Christies Championship” were to be removed from all events and actions relating to KOP. Christies had only last September renewed the contract with KOP for 2005-2006.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.