Ahead of the Socceroos’ Centenary clash with New Zealand, Football Australia unveiled Subway as the new naming rights partner of the country’s Senior Men’s National Football Team.
The record-breaking, three-year partnership is the largest ever national team sponsorship deal in Australian football history and sees the world’s largest sandwich chain – with more than 37,000 locations globally – secure the naming rights of the Subway Socceroos, Subway Olyroos, Subway Young Socceroos, and Subway Joeys.
As part of the game-changing deal, Subway also becomes an Official Partner of the CommBank Matildas and the Australia Cup, the largest knock-out competition in Australia with over 700 teams from all corners of the country entering each year. Subway will have exclusive category rights for the Socceroos, CommBank Matildas, men’s and women’s youth national teams, and the Australia Cup.
Subway Australia & New Zealand Country Director Shane Bracken attended the Socceroos’ Centenary Gala and spoke on behalf of the leading multi-national fast food restaurant franchise.
He addressed a room filled with Socceroos legends and Team of the Century inductees, as well as representatives from Football Australia amongst a wide range of Australian football’s various stakeholders.
“Spending a couple of hours in this room tonight you hear words like ‘family’. And you hear words like ‘team’. And you just know the history behind this code is amazing and it’s something that we’re extremely proud to be involved in,” Bracken said.
“I’m honoured to be here tonight with Chris Nikou, James Johnson, and so many legends of the game. It’s special to be here on a night where we’re celebrating the centenary, and we get the honour of being able to kick-off the Subway and Football Australia partnership. We recognise that this is a very important moment as football takes its place in the Australian sporting community.
“Subway has a long and proud Australian history and we’re delighted to unite these two green and gold brands. To us it’s a perfect fit; we love what football represents in Australia, particularly the 700+ community clubs. We’re extremely excited about the national and international scale of the Socceroos and Matildas, but we can’t wait to participate at the community level.
“Our business is a franchise business, with 1200 restaurants across Australia. And we form part of a community in just about every suburb in Australia. So, for us it’s extremely important to match our values and vision with Football Australia’s. And we’ve seen that very quickly already in the short time we’ve been involved.
“We value a fresh and healthy approach to food and we feel that Subway has that opportunity to fuel teams and individuals on a game day as well.
“Thank you for welcoming us into the football family and on behalf of everyone at Subway I wish the Subway Socceroos all the best for a successful World Cup campaign in Qatar and beyond.”
The event was followed by the Socceroos and New Zealand match at the same venue of Suncorp Stadium, where 25,392 fans showed their support.
