Featured image credit: QPR
Loftus Road Stadium, the home of English Championship football club Queens Park Rangers (QPR), has taken on the name of a commercial sponsor for the first time in its history following a deal with Malaysian national trade promotion agency MATRADE.
The three-year deal with the agency – of which QPR co-owner Ruben Gnanalingam also sits on the board – will see the venue named MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium with immediate effect, up to and including the 2025-26 season.
MATRADE operates under the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) to develop and promote Malaysia’s export to the world. QPR CEO Lee Hoos said: “We are delighted with this agreement.
“The club is always looking at ways to increase our portfolio of partners. This decision to render the naming rights of the stadium is made with the commercial interests of the club at heart, and we look forward to working with MATRADE.”
Chairman of MATRADE, Reezal Merican Naina Merican, added: “When I initiated the proposal for MATRADE to rebrand itself after 30 years of its establishment, I saw that the new naming rights partnership was an opportunity for MATRADE to elevate our brand visibility on the international scene.
“By leveraging QPR’s long-standing history in English football, MATRADE will be able to enhance its global recognition as a trusted agency to connect trade between our two countries. We look forward to a successful partnership with QPR.”
In May 2022, QPR announced that its home stadium would once again be known as Loftus Road after a partnership with The Kiyan Prince Foundation came to an end.
QPR’s stadium, which first opened in 1904, had been officially known as The Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium since the start of the 2019-20 season. The foundation’s three-year deal with the London club concluded at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.
The foundation was set up in memory of Kiyan Prince, a former QPR academy player who was stabbed to death outside his school when breaking up a fight on May 18, 2006, when he was just 15. His father Mark set up the charity to educate young people on the consequences of knife crime.
The foundation was selected as Loftus Road’s naming-rights partner after QPR invited fans to nominate a charity to sponsor the stadium. Of the five nominated charities, The Kiyan Prince Foundation received more than 63% of the overall votes.
In June, QPR officially unveiled its new state-of-the-art training ground. Located in Heston, part of the London Borough of Hounslow, the complex started accommodating the club’s first team, Under 23s and academy squads from the 2023-24 season.
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