By Victor Enyinnaya on January 16, 2018

Heartland Football Club of Owerri has strike a multi-million Naira sponsorship deal with Nigerian carrier, Dana Air, which are also the operators of Imo Air.

The season-long sponsorship deal which is part of the airlines’ support to the newly-promoted Owerri based team’s 2018 league campaign, will see the airline get shirt sleeve branding and lots of other branding opportunities with the crowd pulling team.

The airline confirmed the development in a statement recently in Lagos by its Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa.

The statement quoted the Accountable Manager of Dana Air, Obi Mbanuzuo, as saying at the unveiling in Owerri, the Imo capital, further showed that football as big business and one stop unifying factors in the world must be totally encouraged.

According to him at Dana Air, "we are committed to supporting our own. We are also committed to youth and sports development in Imo State in particular and in Nigeria at large," he remarked..

“There is need to look inwards so we can build our league and the teams so as to make them more attractive and glamorous. We have taken the lead and we hope that other corporate bodies will follow, the statement added.

The statement said that in coming up with the sponsorship, the airline looked at how the team performed last season, their promotion to the NPFL remains a watershed which symbolised our determination to make the people of the state proud bringing back top flight football to them a feature they have associated with since 1976.

“We believe that our sponsorship will bring the much-needed boost, confidence and motivation for them to go all out for the league title this season.

“Under this sponsorship package, the player of the month will get a whopping cash gift as part of efforts to motivate the players to do better, keep fit and continuously improve themselves to get the prize,’’  Mbanuzuo was quoted as saying.

Commenting on the deal, the Imo State Commissioner for Sports, Dr Martins Ohiri, thanked Dana Air and the State government for the partnership that had culminated in the deal.

Also, the Chairman of Heartland, Mr Goodfaith Etuemena, assured the airline of commensurate mileage on the sponsorship.

“I am glad that my search for sponsors is finally paying dividends. Hopefully, this partnership would attract more.

“Heartland is a big brand and we promise to repay the confidence that your company has bestowed on our legendary club,’’ he said.

It would be recalled that Dana Air had in 2017 entered into an airline partnership with the Imo State Government.

The aim of the partnership is to boost tourism potential in the state, encourage business and leisure trips and create employment opportunities for its indigenes.

•Photo shows officials of Dana Air and Heartland FC signing the sponsorship document.

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 16, 2018

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