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The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) today announced its partnership with sportswear brand Kelme for the 2021 to 2024 rights cycle. Kelme joins the AFC family of sponsors as the Official Global Supporter of AFC national team competitions and will provide sports apparel and accessories for the AFC’s national team competitions from 2022 to 2024, and the official match ball for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China.
The partnership encompasses major AFC competitions, including but not limited to the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar featuring the Continent’s top-12 football nations, and Asia’s flagship national team competitions – the 2023 AFC Asian Cup – China – which will be played in ten state-of-the-art venues across China, and the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup – India as well as the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan.
As a world-renowned sports apparel company with professional football in its DNA, Kelme has accumulated more than 60 years of brand history and heritage. The brand is currently in partnership with a number of LaLiga First and Second Division clubs, and has in recent years also provided professional football equipment to an English Premier League club, Russian Super League clubs and other top international sports clubs.
Moreover, Kelme has also established extensive partnerships with leagues and clubs in China including the China Women’s Super League clubs, Chinese League One, China League Two and others.
“Kelme has established its presence as one of the world’s leading sporting apparel companies and we thank them for their belief and confidence in the AFC and Asian football.”
“The AFC’s commitment to deliver world-class competitions is stronger than ever and together, we are confident of creating a mutually beneficial partnership that will enable both the AFC and Kelme realise our shared ambitions.”
Ke Yongxiang, President of Kelme remarked, “We are very pleased to partner with the AFC, who we will collaborate with closely to promote football development in Asia and the rest of the world. For decades, football has been at the core of our brand and we are dedicated to continue challenging ourselves to drive innovation and to supply high-quality equipment to the sport industry. We are hence looking forward to collaborating with the AFC on the upcoming national team competitions including the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup – China.”
This partnership deal was secured and will be managed by the AFC’s exclusive commercial partner Football Marketing Asia (FMA). The partnership includes rights to a comprehensive set of tailored digital promotional content and innovative advertising formats.
Patrick Murphy, Board Member and CEO at Football Marketing Asia commented, “We are delighted to welcome Kelme to the family of AFC national team football sponsors. Kelme’s strong football heritage makes it a wonderful fit with AFC competitions, being a brand driven at its core by innovation and a desire to promote football in Asia and beyond.”
“As the supplier of sports apparel and accessories, as well as the official matchball for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup – China, Kelme will enjoy great brand exposure and our team at FMA is very excited to begin collaborating with Kelme on bringing unique experiences to fans of Asian football through digital and traditional channels.”
