Santos FC and Konami Sign for a Three-Year Sponsorship Agreement

Konami Holdings Corporation is now sponsoring the Brazilian soccer team Santos FC as part of a three-year partnership that was signed last week.

Japanese Game Giant on Brazilian Soccer Jerseys

Brazilian soccer team Santos FC has just signed a new sponsorship agreement with Japanese video game development and publishing company Konami. The deal started on December, Sunday 27 during the match against first division team and Ceará for the Brazilian championship, and will last three years.

Sao Paulo-based team Santos FC, also known as “Peixe” (meaning “fish”, as the club mascot is a whale), now has the opportunity to be sponsored by major brands and can stand out with soccer legends such as Pelé or José Macia. Santos also became the first team in the history of soccer to have scored a total of 10,000 goals in 1998 and 11,000 goals in 2004.

Through an R$3 million (almost $580,000) partnership, the Tokyo-based game developer will be branding Santos’ jersey numbers for the next three years.

After having refreshed its deal with Casa de Apostas (the operator group of online sports betting in Europe and Brazil) earlier in 2020, Santos FC makes the PES 2021 game logo more recognizable to Brazilian supporters.

Konami also has sponsorship with Flamenco, Corinthians, Campeonato Brasileiro and São Paulo, which have licensing and advertising contracts for their stadiums.

The company is therefore replacing the Orthopride Company, which ended its sponsorship after the club hired Robinho in October.

Konami Ends 2020 on a Winning Note

2020 was a top year for Konami and the company debuted an innovative payment technology, boosting cashless payment starting at the Ellis Island Casino in the United-States.

At the end of this year, more US casinos can benefit from this cashless technology, including the Morongo Casino Management System in California.

Richard St. Jean, Chief Executive at Morongo Casino and Resort, thinks the gambling industry is “close to going completely cashless in the next five years” and that Konami Gaming and Marker Trax will integrate these technological changes as a huge step.

The company also has recently announced during the Japanese Jump Festa 2021 Online developing a new game, based on the famous Yu-Gi-Oh! card game license and called Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel. The game would be available on Switch.