PR N°15 - INTERSPORT and FIBA sign a major sponsorship deal

GENEVA (FIBA) - INTERSPORT International Corp. (IIC) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) are happy to announce the signing of a major sponsorship agreement.

INTERSPORT becomes an Official Main Sponsor of the four biggest international basketball events to take place over the next two summers: the FIBA European Championships (EuroBaskets) for Men and Women, held in the summer of 2009 in Poland and Latvia, respectively, and the FIBA World Championships for Men and Women, to be played in 2010 in Turkey and the Czech Republic, respectively.

This sponsorship package will give INTERSPORT a strong advertising presence in each of the basketball venues and during all the games of the 2009 FIBA European and the 2010 FIBA World Championships. INTERSPORT logos will appear on the perimeter boards and on all sponsors recognition materials, including interview backdrops. The company will also be entitled to use the "INTERSPORT - Official Sponsor" or "INTERSPORT - Official Retailer" title on its communicational and promotional materials.

In addition, as the Official Retailer, INTERSPORT will set up FIBA event shops in some of its already established stores in the respective countries where the four above-mentioned championships will be staged. Furthermore, INTERSPORT will also run the on-site Official Event Merchandise Shops of the above-mentioned championships. These shops will offer a wide variety of Official Licensed Products of the FIBA events.

FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann stated: "This agreement represents a very important step for this International Basketball Federation from a commercial perspective. FIBA and its competitions are continuously growing and becoming more professional and competitive in all areas. We are proud to welcome INTERSPORT to our sponsors' family. This partnership represents a major step for the Competitions Retail activities and the achievement of a higher level promotion for the EuroBasket and World Championships."

Franz Julen, CEO of IIC, welcomes the INTERSPORT/FIBA partnership: "Basketball becomes more and more popular as a sport in general. In several countries where INTERSPORT is market leader, basketball enjoys great popularity. Furthermore, in every INTERSPORT store the different team sports are among the most important product categories. It is our strategic intention to be present at major sports events not only with board advertising, but to link them with retail activities. The forthcoming FIBA championships are ideal for this purpose."

About FIBA

FIBA (www.fiba.basketball), the world governing body for basketball, is an independent association formed by 213 National Federations of basketball throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Its main upcoming events are the 2009 FIBA Zone Continental Championships that qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships for Men and Women, to take place in Turkey and in the Czech Republic respectively.


About INTERSPORT

With a turnover of over EUR 8.8 billion and more than 5.200 specialist sports stores in 35 countries, the INTERSPORT Group (www.intersport.com) has further strengthened its position as the leader in the world's sporting goods market.


For more information, please contact:

Matthew Osmon, FIBA: +41 22 545 00 00, osmon@fiba.com
Franz Julen , IIC: +41 31 930 78 03, franz.julen@intersport.com