Grupa LOTOS and the Polish Football Association have signed a contract under which the Company will remain the Main Sponsor of the Polish National Football Team, but will also join a number of other projects to support what is clearly the single most popular spectator sport among Polish fans.

Football is undoubtedly Poland’s national sport and a source of powerful emotions, which regularly brings all Poles together, as aptly described by the motto of the Polish Football Association – “Connected by football”. Having supported Polish athletes for many years, Grupa LOTOS believes the decision to increase its involvement with football will not only confirm the professionalism and high standards of the Company’s sponsorship agenda, but will also help the Polish team perform even better both on home soil and around the world.

 “At LOTOS, we are very much impressed by what our national team have achieved in recent years. We are happy to see that throughout the period of our cooperation Polish footballers have shown great commitment and professionalism, which earned them the best ever position in the recent EURO Championship in France, a record-high place in the global FIFA ranking and the recent promotion from the first place in their group to the finals of this year’s World Cup,” says Marcin Jastrzębski, President of the Management Board of Grupa LOTOS S.A. “I am sure that with our sponsorship contract extended for another four years, together with the Polish Football Association we will write another remarkable chapter in the history of Polish football, and the players will continue to give fans their fill of emotions.”

The current contract between Grupa LOTOS and the Association runs until December 31st 2018. Under the new contract, LOTOS will support Polish football for another four years, i.e. until the end of 2022. Over that time, our team will fight to qualify for the 2020 European Championship and the 2022 World Cup, and will compete in the newly formed Nations League, due to commence in the autumn of 2018. In addition, LOTOS will remain the Main Sponsor of the U-21 Polish National Team and – as a novelty – will become the Main Sponsor of the Polish Women’s National Team.

“The decision to prolong our cooperation shows that by investing in the Polish national team our sponsors can achieve their business goals, and that the Polish Football Association is viewed as a reliable partner to work with for a long time,” said Zbigniew Boniek, President of the Polish Football Association. “At the Federation, we are daily involved in building a positive image of the sport. We are happy that businesses see the potential of the events we organise. They are interested not only in the top men’s team, but also in the U-21 and women’s teams, as well as in the ŁączyNasPiłka.pl web portal, also sponsored by LOTOS.”

“The national football team is perceived as a ‘premium product’ on the Polish sponsorship market, and the extension of the sponsorship contract proves that the Polish Football Association is recognised as an organisation worth working with”, adds Maciej Sawicki, secretary general of the Association. “Together with the national team we have worked hard over the past years to build a strong brand that business giants want to identify with.” We are glad to see that only three years after signing our first contract, LOTOS already decided to extend it until the end of 2022. 

The new contract adds a number of advertising and sponsorship services to the existing scope, and LOTOS will still have the right to use the images of footballers in its advertising campaigns.

LOTOS has long been an ambassador of Polish sports. It also supports ski jumping, the second most popular discipline among Polish fans, as well as motor sports and tennis. It is additionally involved in certain sports-related outreach initiatives, such as the National Ski Jumping and Cross Country Skiing Development Programme ‘In Search for the Champion’s Successors’, a programme to promote football among the youngest inhabitants of the Gdańsk Province ‘Football Future with LOTOS’ (run together with the Lechia Gdańsk Football Academy), and the nationwide road safety campaign ‘Safety Belt Champions’.

The LOTOS Group is a Polish refiner ranked among the most advanced and fastest-growing oil companies in Europe. Its business is of strategic importance to the national and European energy security, as well as to Polish economy. It produces natural gas and crude oil from deposits in Poland, Norway and Lithuania. The Company owns a cutting-edge oil refining plant in Gdańsk, where crude is processed mainly into high-quality fuels, including the LOTOS Dynamic premium brand.

In addition, LOTOS operates a retail fuel chain of some 490 service stations, conveniently located at motorways and expressways, in all large cities and many other locations across the country. As a retailer and wholesaler of fuels, it has nearly a one-third market share at home. It is also Poland’s second-largest rail freight forwarder. LOTOS is a leading manufacturer of road bitumens, engine oils and lubricants used in road vehicles, aeroplanes, trains, ships, and even military vehicles.

Communication Office, Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, Poland, tel. (+48) 58 308 87 31, (+48) 58 308 83 88, (+48) 58 308 83 55, e-mail: media@grupalotos.pl