The Indian Football Association (West Bengal) has signed a sponsorship deal with Indo-German sports management company SHAAPP to sponsor the Bengal state football team in the upcoming 67th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy.

Speaking about the deal IFA Honorary Secretary Utpal Kumar Ganguli said, “We at IFA sincerely appreciate the support extended by SHAAPP and thank the Company and their President & CEO Mr.Rainer Appold for the same. We hope in future there will be opportunity for greater and closer cooperation between IFA and SHAAPP.”

For SHAAPP the deal with the IFA is only a starting point in their quest to help in the development of sports in the state of West Bengal and across India with the company initially set to focus on football, but also looking at other sports and the entertainment industry. SHAAPP has set-up offices in Kolkata, India and Mannheim, Germany.

SHAAPP president and CEO Rainer Appold said, “It is a proud moment for us at SHAAPP to sign a sponsorship deal with the IFA. This shows our commitment towards Bengal and football, but this is only a start for us.”

SHAAPP is working on some projects with further announcements to happen in the weeks to come.

The 67th Santosh Trophy will be hosted by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Kerala from February 1 to March 3, 2013 with Bengal placed along with Delhi and Railways in Group A of the Qualifying Round I with two out of the three teams moving into the quarterfinal league phase.

(SHAAPP Press Release)