The market for sponsors of Colombian professional soccer jerseys ranges from some traveling billboards, with six or seven brands, to others that have not been able to get even one, such as Atlético Bucaramanga.
Bookmakers, brands of beer, soda or milk and some banks are frequent sponsors in the local League. But the strangest of all is that of Boyacá Chicó, who does not have any brand on the front of his shirt, but does have a striking notice on the back, under the number: Promise of the Sun.
Although many are still surprised today by the curious name, which also appears on the billboards of the La Independencia stadium in Tunja, when Boyacá Chicó plays at home, the advertising relationship began in 2020, the year the team was relegated for the third time (it had already fallen to B in 2016 and 2018).
What is Promised of the Sun
Prometido del Sol must be, by far, the most curious and striking sponsor in the history of Colombian professional soccer. And yes, there have been cases, as will be seen later.
On social networks and in Boyacá Chicó publications, they promote Prometido del Sol as “the best horse in Colombia”.. And it is, at least, in the modality of paso fino, not only in training, but as a player.
And what is Prometido del Sol’s relationship with soccer? The specimen, one of the most and best valued in the world of Paso horses, initially belonged to the San Cayetano Kennel, but was later acquired by the La Disculpa kennel, owned by Eduardo Pimentel, who, in turn, is the largest shareholder of Boyacá Chicó.
Pimentel, a soccer player in the 80s and 90s and champion with América in 1984, 1990 and 1992 and with Millonarios in 1987 and 1988, began the Chicó Fútbol Club project in 2001 in Bogotá and two years later was promoted to the first division as a coach . Later, as president of the club, the team, based in Boyacá, was champion of the League in 2008-I.
Parallel to his work in soccer, Pimentel has been closely linked to the equine world and Promise of the Sun is his crown jewel, which is why he promotes him in his team’s games.
Other curious sponsors of Colombian soccer
Pimentel himself, at the beginning of his team, had been sponsored by Prostatron, a firm for prostate treatment equipment, in his first year in B.
Then, in the first season in A, in 2004, there was another curiosity: The club made an agreement with chance sales houses and each shirt had a different brand on the back.
Continuing with the list of curious brands, América de Cali appeared in 2006 with a hitherto unpublished black uniform to play against Santa Fe in Bogotá, with a striking silver logo: a letter X with the Playboy rabbit inside, the renowned adult magazine.
Those were the years when the club was on the Clinton List and getting sponsorship was a problem. In fact, that year America did not have a sponsor, but rather a phrase: America does with you. The logo was to promote an event that was held in those days, the Playboy Erotic Adventure. It was barely used in a couple of games to disappear forever. What stayed was the black shirt.
But if America appealed to erotic shows, Deportivo Pasto went further: it signed an advertising contract with the firm Fast, Easy and Effective Money Projections (DRFE). In other words, a pyramid… That was in 2008.
“They offered us 1,000 million pesos in an advertising contract that consisted of DRFE advertising being in the Libertad Stadium and on the players’ jerseys. The business lasted until June 2009. We agreed, we went to receive the money and there they invited us to save a part as an investment. We believed them, we withdrew 700 million and left 300 invested,” Pasto’s manager, Néstor Viteri, told EL TIEMPO at the time.
“It was a momentary salvation because we managed to pay parafiscal debts and we caught up with the players’ fortnightly payments. It is that Deportivo Pasto’s debt exceeds 2,000 million pesos, ”he added. Needless to say, the remaining 300 million were lost.
For his part, the late Sporting de Barranquilla was about to take to the field in 1991 with a shirt marked with the M19 logo, who had just demobilized and was making his transition to a political party.
“The team had no sponsor and they never paid us. When the clásico came with the Junior, with a full stadium, the president in charge of the team, Mrs. Betty, told us ‘we already have sponsorship and they are the comrades of the M-19’. They gave us some T-shirts with a giant M-19 sign on the chest. When we were about to jump onto the field, the Dimayor field commissioner didn’t let us out: “That’s against the regulations” and he got in the way. So we went back to the usual yellow and black stripes,” recalled Faryd Mondragón, goalkeeper for that team, in an interview with Bocas magazine.
But perhaps the most curious story is that of Cortuluá, which in theory arranged with a couple of well-known brands, the Mexican beers Corona and Negra Modelo, to wear them on the jerseys of their debut in the Copa Libertadores, in 2002.
The negotiation turned out to be false: the brewery found out when it saw photos of the competing team and complained. The team did not receive a penny and had to withdraw sponsorships from their presses shortly after.
SPORTS
More sports news
#Boyacá #Chicó #horse #curious #sponsors #League