September 2018 marks the first season of uhlsport´s and Köln´s partnership
When thinking about the Bundesliga and some of it’s most prominent teams, the 1. FC Köln directly springs to mind. Being the Bundesliga’s first ever champion, backed by an entire city with over 100,000 club members and fans spread far and wide across the globe it can be said that Köln is the club for anyone and everyone.
This explains how the club´s motto: “SPÜRBAR ANDERS” (DIFFERENT) was established.
By securing the sponsorship agreement with Köln the Balingen-based sports outfitter hopes to strengthen its brand image and attract attention from new fans.
uhlsport´s director of marketing and design, Melanie Steinhilber said: “We are very happy to embark on this partnership with such a popular and successful Bundesliga club. We especially hope to spread our roots throughout western Germany, home to millions of long time football fans. In essence, the future designs worn by the club can be linked back to its original Motto: ‘Different’. We’ll actively collaborate with the club to meet their wishes in terms of design and performance. Though a challenge, we see this partnership as an opportunity to grow and are looking forward to embarking on this journey with Köln.”
Since their return to Germany’s star studded league in 2013/14, the team has continued to improve and impress. After going from 12th (2014/15) to 9th (2015/16) the club managed to further better itself, reaching fifth place last season and automatically qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. uhlsport hopes to further fuel this triumphant journey in the upcoming season.
Dominik Solleder, uhlsport´s director of sales, said: “Our entire team is delighted with the bond between ourselves and Köln. Strategically, this is a giant step forward for us as it perfectly fits into our sales and promotion scheme of further developing football and other team sports goods. I believe that what closed the deal for us are our high quality, reliable as well as modern and technical products. Now, we have our eyes set on the future and hope to further expand into the football world on both a national and international level.
“1. FC Köln is no ordinary, off the peg club. Therefore, it only makes sense we also don´t want to play in regular off the peg kits. By coming together with uhslport, we have ensured just that for at least the upcoming four seasons. We are very happy to have found a partner who can match our rigorous standards in terms of design, quality, reliability as well as individuality.”
In order to meet the club’s visions and desires new individualised kits and other merchandise articles will be launched prior to next autumn.
