MTA renews Sheffield Utd sponsorship

The Malta Tourism Authority this afternoon renewed its sponsorship of Sheffield United for £350,000 per year - the same amount paid last year.

A two-year contract was signed with an opt-out clause for the MTA after one year.

MTA chief executive Josef Formosa Gauci said that the UK was the most important core market for Malta’s tourism and the authority’s was to try to improve the perception of Malta in the UK, where many still saw Malta as the place their grandparents went to.

The TV coverage of Sheffield United, whose players carried the visitmalta logo on their gear, he said, was much more than the MTA could ever afford so there was a lot of value added in the sponsorship. He said that even more than 35,000 tops with the visitmalta logo were sold.

Mr Formosa Gauci said Sheffied Utd had shares in four football teams around the world and the agreement included the promotion of Malta.

The MTA was also pushing the June Isle of MTV concert being held in Malta in Sheffield and the club was planning a training camp for the Malta Football Association in Sheffield in August.

It was estimated that around 25,000 attend championship matches of Sheffield Utd.