Atalanta has signed a wide-ranging partnership with banking group Intesa Sanpaolo that covers sponsorship rights and financing of the Italian Serie A football club’s stadium redevelopment project.
Intesa Sanpaolo becomes the banking partner of Atalanta and main sponsor of its youth teams. The grandstand at the club’s Gewiss Stadium will also be known as ‘Renaissance’, in line with a programme launched by Intesa Sanpaolo and the Municipality of Bergamo to help local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The partnership includes a loan agreement worth €40m (£35.9m/$47m) for the redevelopment of Gewiss Stadium. Intesa Sanpaolo has signed this agreement with the Istituto per il Credito Sportivo, the main financier of Italian sports facilities.
Atalanta and the Municipality of Bergamo have begun the redevelopment of Gewiss Stadium, with the project to increase the stadium’s capacity from 21,300 to 24,000 and enhance the quality of services offered. Atalanta detailed the first stage of the plans back in April 2019 and the club is hoping to complete the work by the end of 2021.
Atalanta chief executive Luca Percassi said: “Establishing a partnership with the largest Italian banking group, as well as one of the main ones in the European area, can only make us proud.
“Such an important agreement, in a difficult moment like the one we are experiencing worldwide, confirms and strengthens the will of our company to continue its growth path. Completing the Gewiss Stadium redevelopment project means not only offering our fans a more comfortable and modern structure, but restoring an entirely redeveloped, more liveable and family-sized area to Bergamo and the people of Bergamo.”
Gaetano Micciche, chief executive and general manager at UBI Banca, added: “We are really proud to present this agreement today, so as to actively contribute to a project that will allow, among other things, Atalanta Calcio and the city of Bergamo to play and win in a state-of-the-art, more functional, larger stadium, to be proudly displayed in Europe.
“This partnership is intended to be a tangible sign of the commitment of the new reality that is emerging from the integration between Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI Banca for its reference territories.”
The deal has been signed as Atalanta prepares to play Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League tomorrow (Wednesday).
Gewiss has served as Atalanta’s stadium sponsor since the start of the 2019-20 season. The company, which offers solutions and products for home automation, energy and lighting, signed a six-year deal with the club.
Image: Ago76/Attribution – Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)/Edited for size
