That Was The Week That Was 30 October 03 to November 2023
Let’s play match the jumper!
You may have noticed that many, many football teams – particular code of football irrelevant – are sponsored by airlines. Sponsorship of this nature is something airlines need to consider very seriously, as supporting a team sends a message about who you are and what your values are, as embodied by the team wearing your name. In Spain, Atletico Madrid is sponsored by Riyadh Airlines, an airline that is yet to start operations. What sort of message does that send? Sometimes it can be done with a sense of fun, but not often. For many years, in the Australian Football League, the umpires were sponsored by the country’s largest chain of optometrists. Witty and disarming at the same time.
It would be terrible if your brand name was forever associated with, for example, a photo of a player sustaining a nasty injury, or being involved in an heinous on-field indiscretion. So, if you are the sponsorship manager for an airline, you need to be sure there is a clear alignment between the character of the team you are funding, and your airline.
To help you with this, this week, the week that was, I propose starting a new service – the match-the-team-to-airline service. In the spirit of the age, I will, of course, be crowd sourcing much of the content, but let me get the ball rolling, to coin a phrase:
| Team | Airline | Reason |
| Manchester United | Lufthansa | Riddled with grossly inflated self-worth |
| Manchester United | BA | Living on past glories |
| Paris St-Germain | Qatar | Pockets so deep we don’t really care |
| Chelsea | Qantas | Arrogant, despite lingering dysfunctionality |
| Millwall | Wizz | Everybody hates us; we don’t care |
| Luton Town | Ryanair | Amusing run to the very top league |
| Bayern Munich | Qantas | It is amazing what you can do with no competition |
| Barcelona | Norwegian | Not all the accounting is always GAAP based |
| England Rugby | Delta | Functional, but grim to watch |
| The All Blacks | Air France | Constantly shouting at the referee |
| The Wallabies | JetBlue | Were good once |
| Collingwood AFL | easyJet | Huge fan base, only occasional victories |
As you might imagine, this could go on for weeks. It goes without saying that I would really welcome your help to make this list a valuable tool for airline executives.