SOCHI — Gazprom signed a deal Saturday to sponsor FIFA for a four-year period, including when Russia hosts the World Cup in 2018.
With President Vladimir Putin looking on at the signing ceremony in 2018 World Cup host city Sochi, FIFA head Sepp Blatter and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller put pen to paper on the contract, which runs from the start of 2015 to the end of 2018 and makes the gas firm the first Russian sponsor for that period.
Miller declined to specify how much Gazprom was paying to sponsor FIFA, saying only that the sum reflected the scale of the World Cup.The sponsorship deal allows Gazprom to use the FIFA and World Cup logos in its advertising and makes it the exclusive sponsor in the oil, gas and fuels sectors.
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