QPR signs Abbey as its financial partner

Queens Park Rangers Football Club has signed a seven-figure deal with Abbey to bring the bank on board as the club’s official financial services partner.

The two-year deal will provide Abbey with joint branding at QPR’s stadium, Loftus Road, as well as access to players and use of the club’s facilities throughout the year.

The Santander-owned bank will also work with QPR to develop grassroots football initiatives among local communities and in schools, as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.

This is QPR’s second deal after it refocused its sponsorship strategy by seeking large multinational companies as partners. At the end of March, the club announced it had signed a five-year kit deal worth £20m with Italian firm Lotto Sport Italia. The deal is one of the biggest in the Championship’s history.

The club’s previous sponsorships with Car Giant, Le Coq Sportif and Sellotape all ended at the end of the football season and were not renewed.

QPR chairman Flavio Briatore, who is also the Renault Formula One boss, took control of QPR last year when the club was on the brink of bankruptcy. Briatore along with partners Bernie Ecclestone and Britain’s richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, says the intention is to develop the London club as a “global brand”. As part of this strategy, the trio aims to attract major international sponsors to the club. Santander is also title sponsor of the British Grand Prix.