Manchester United Football Club and Apollo Tyres, a leader in tyre manufacturing and distribution, announced a three year regional partnership which will see Apollo Tyres become the Club’s official Tyre Partner in the UK and India.
A key element of the partnership will be a joint community commitment to encourage healthy lifestyles and develop sporting skills in young people. Apollo will build “Go The Distance” football pitches made from recycled tyres in local communities across the UK and India, with the first being on site (as part of a fan zone/play zone) at Old Trafford.
During the launch event, Manchester United first team players Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans were joined by children from Burnage Media Arts College – a partner school of the Manchester United Foundation – and Foundation staff, to participate in the specially-created Apollo Tyres “Go The Distance” skills challenges that will be similar to those featured on the new pitches, which encourage users of the Apollo football play zones to achieve excellence in control, agility, speed, precision and tricks.
Manchester United Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold commented:“Apollo Tyres is a leading player in the tyre industry and its rate of growth and development into new territories made it an attractive partner for the Club. With a combined fan base close to 46 million followers in both the UK and India, we are confident in providing Apollo with a highly engaged audience, not only to promote its brand, but also to engage and communicate with our fans.
“This partnership also allows the Club to continue its on-going commitment to investment in and the development of young people, whether through our Academy or via the work we do in the community.”
Commenting on the announcement, Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres said: “This is a very significant partnership for us as a company and clearly demonstrates our global ambitions for our business, and the brand. Very few sports platforms deliver such global profile and awareness and we look forward to working closely with Manchester United over the coming years.
“It is a matter of great pride for us to introduce a new healthy living initiative under our corporate social responsibility (CSR), to create new play zones for the youth in the UK and India. In its aim to stimulate the next generations to ‘go the distance’, this campaign really brings to life our brand values of high performance, quality and excellence.”
Three decades old, Apollo Tyres is headquartered in Gurgaon, India, and has a manufacturing presence in Asia, Europe and Africa. With revenues of over US$2.34 billion, the company exports to over 100 countries.