Mark your calendars and get your blue jerseys out of the closet. After a 100-day hiatus due to Coronavirus, the English Premier League will resume on June 17th with the defending champions Manchester City FC taking on their London rivals Arsenal. With manager Pep Guardiola confirming that the whole squad is fit and at his disposal for selection, this game is the perfect curtain raiser for the premiership restart.
Although all the remaining 92 matches in the league, including 10 of the Man City’s games, will be played behind closed doors, the everlasting support for the Blues will be in full force as all the matches will be telecast live on TV.
QNET’s Partnership With Manchester City
It was back in 2014 that QNET first partnered with the champion footballing outfit. City were fresh from their crowning of the 2013-14 premier league season, which also saw them win the league cup. The association continued to go from strength to strength with the QNET brand name appearing on the sleeves of the Women’s team jerseys in 2018. A further renewal of the mutually fruitful affiliation will see our sponsorship of the Blues continue till 2024, that will mark 10 years of successful journey. To commemorate the extension, a limited-edition Swiss watch, QNETCity Champions Watch was also commissioned.
As the football club’s direct selling partner, QNET is directly involved with many of the club’s activities including sending underprivileged children from all over the world to City of Manchester for football camps and English language schools. We are also committed to significantly improving the football infrastructure in Asian countries as the continent aims to play a bigger role in the beautiful game.
Two Teams, One Attitude – It’s All About Winning
For any partnership to achieve success, it must be deeply rooted in shared aspirations and common values. With QNET and Manchester City FC, a winning mentality that’s based on hard work, passion, and dedication has been the cornerstone of an ongoing and mutually beneficial association. Both of us firmly believe in achieving our goals through fair means. MCFC’s consistent record in the Fair Play League, a system that tracks and recognises number of yellow and red cards each club gets over a season, is a testimony to this belief. At QNET, we strive to play by the rules too – never indulging in misrepresenting our products to prospective clients or breaking any code of ethics in general.
In terms of brand equity, both QNET and MCFC have emerged as strong players in our respective fields by constantly exceeding the expectations of our stakeholders. Performance with a never-give-up attitude has been one of the main reasons behind this continued success. Meticulous planning for the future, a grand vision of our able leaders, and a sense of humility about our past successes are what drive us to scale newer heights, year after year.
Manchester City Football Club – Journey Through the Times
Established in the year 1880 as St. Mark’s (West Gorton), the club were known as Ardwick Association Football Club for some time before assuming their current name in 1894. They have played their home games in the Maine Road stadium since 1923, and in 2003, moved to City of Manchester Stadium, host of 2002 Commonwealth Games. The stadium has been since renamed the Etihad Stadium, after the club’s main sponsors, Etihad Airways.
The club achieved their first major success in 1904 by winning the FA Cup, football’s oldest tournament. A slew of successes during the 1960s saw them winning the league, the FA Cup, and the League Cup (known as the Carabao Cup now). The 1980s saw a major decline in their fortunes going as low as the third tier of English professional football league.
The club was back to the top flight football in the 2001-02 season and have been a regular in the premier league since. A major shift occurred in 2008 when the Abu Dhabi United Group bought the club. With the huge financial backing of the owners, the club witnessed a meteoric rise winning a host of major trophies.
In 2018, MCFC scored a whopping 100 points to win the premier league, becoming the first club to claim this accolade. In another first for an English football club, the Blues had a clean sweep of all four English domestic titles – the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Community Shield in 2019. These are an indication of where the club are headed.
How to Follow Your Beloved MCFC
Manchester City participate in 3 domestic tournaments every season – the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the League Cup. The Community Shield is a one-match affair between the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup from the preceding season and City have been a regular fixture in this match for many seasons. As one of the regular top four finishers of the Premier League, MCFC also play in the European Club Football’s elite competition, the Champions League. All these games are telecast live in India by various networks – Premier League by Start Sports, the FA Cup and the Champions League by Sony, and the League Cup by VH1.
So, show your love for the Blues as they host the Gunners on 17th June and let your pride in QNET’s sponsorship of the giants of English football soar. Until next time, let’s chant –
Blue moon,
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own.
