All Eredivisie clubs are suffering financially from the corona pandemic. Millions in income from ticket sales are being missed and Feyenoord has already announced that it has run into problems because of this. An operating loss of four million euros was incurred in the past financial year. On top of that was a negative transfer result of 13 million euros.
It led to the new coach Arne Slot being able to strengthen his selection with very limited resources and the club still has to be creative to bring in young talents on the transfer market. Before the arrival of the Swede Patrik Walemark, money was borrowed and the American international Cole Basset is rented from Colorado Rapids.
Commercially, Feyenoord is therefore making progress. In 2017, Droomparken (later renamed Europarcs) became the main sponsor for an amount of 20 million euros for four seasons. That contract has already been extended twice and will continue until the summer of 2023. With bonuses, the amount increases to more than 5.5 million euros per year.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has the same sponsor with the Scottish Rangers.
Ⓒ Rangers FC
The current clothing sponsor Adidas will also remain on until 2023, the company with which Feyenoord has had many years of collaboration. But then Castore comes in and with that the company, which was started up in 2015, enters the Dutch market for the first time.
English brothers
Castore is still the great unknown in the Netherlands, but the company of the still young English brothers Philip and TomBeahon has built up a great reputation abroad in record time. In the Premier League, the sportswear brand sponsors Newcastle United, in Scotland Rangers with Giovanni van Bronckhorst, the English Tennis Federation, national cricket teams, Australian and English rugby teams and the McLaren Formula 1 team.
Philip and Tom Behaon grew up in the Liverpool area. Tom played as a young professional footballer for Tranmere Rovers, Philip was a professional cricketer for Cheshire and Lancashire. The graduate brothers moved to London together in 2013 to seek investors for their developing sportswear company. One joined Lloyds Bank, the other Deloitte. They did major market research and launched their own line three years later. Forbes ranked the brothers among the most sensational ‘under 30’ newcomers to the business world in 2019.
Andy Murray shareholder
Behind the company are now large investors, including wealthy Britons and multimillionaires from India. But tennis player Andy Murray is also a shareholder.
Kieran Trippier at Manchester United.
Ⓒ Reuters
The Behaon brothers want to conquer the market throughout Europe and aim for large folk clubs with a loyal following. Rangers and Newcastle United were, Aston Villa is added and in the Netherlands it had to be Feyenoord.
They now know that all the major sponsors that Feyenoord attracted in recent decades saw their name recognition explode. More than half of the Netherlands now has Europarcs (previously with the Droomparken label), which also saw its turnover grow strongly.
1.1 million supporters registered
In terms of social media, Ajax is by far the largest in the Eredivisie, but when it comes to registered fans, Feyenoord has the largest database with 1.1 million supporters. According to Feyenoord, about 2.5 million people in total support Feyenoord in the Netherlands.
Because Castore is already active in fifty countries, Feyenoord will have the opportunity to sell shirts in several countries in the world. Especially in the countries where foreign players, who are now in the selection, have started their career.
Feyenoord is about to make the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of the club.
Ⓒ HH/ANP
The fact that the sportswear brand already wanted to do business with Feyenoord is because it has to design clothing lines and reserve production capacity a year in advance.
For the club, the new deal, which still has to be finalized on details, means a significant boost. Feyenoord previously scored with parties such as Toto and JEX, which allowed the club to record a plus of 1.4 million euros commercially after a corona season.