ALNO is the New Main Sponsor of the German Women's National Football Team

ALNO AG, one of the world's leading kitchen manufacturers, is to be the new main sponsor of the German women's national football team. The aim of the partnership is to work with the German Football Association (DFB) to raise the status of women's football. With this commitment, ALNO leads the field of the team's five premium sponsors.

The partnership between ALNO and the DFB was sealed in Frankfurt am Main today in the presence of DFB President Dr. Theo Zwanziger, DFB General Secretary Wolfgang Niersbach, DFB Coach Ulrike Ballweg, the two World Cup winners Birgit Prinz and Kerstin Garefrekes, the ALNO AG CEO Dr. Georg Kellinghusen, and Dr. Jürgen Diegruber, Managing Partner of the major ALNO shareholder GermanCapital. The contract will initially run for four years.

‘We are very proud to now be a partner of the world's most successful women's football team, thus taking on some of the responsibility for the continued development of this fascinating sport,’ said Dr. Georg Kellinghusen at the official signing.

DFB President Dr. Theo Zwanziger explained: ‘We are happy about the commitment made by ALNO AG. Women's football has developed superbly in Germany over recent years. In ALNO we have found a strong partner to help us ensure that this success story continues.’

Dr. Kellinghusen described the involvement of ALNO AG as a ‘long-term partnership.’ Dr. Georg Kellinghusen continued: ‘Through joint initiatives and activities, our partnership will go beyond purely financial support. We are developing joint activities with the DFB with this aim in mind. We will thus accompany the team and provide it with a boost as it prepares for the World Cup here in Germany in 2011.’

Football has ranked at the top of the company's sponsoring strategy for a long time. ALNO has already been involved with the regional league team SC Pfullendorf for over three decades. SC Pfullendorf plays its games in the ALNO Arena, located at the ALNO headquarters. Now, through this partnership with the DFB, the kitchen manufacturer has opened a new chapter.

‘The national women's football team is an ideal representation of the traditional ALNO virtues such as performance, reliability and determination,’ said Dr. Georg Kellinghusen.
‘At the same time, this commitment also shows the visionary and modern side of the brand. We aim to surprise and to arouse passions, just like this team does time and again. For ALNO, supporting the national women's team is an important element in a series of measures with which we are making the brand younger and more modern, and further adding to its emotional appeal.’

The German national women's team wore the training kit bearing the ALNO logo for the first time when they played against Switzerland in a European Championship qualifier in Basel on 1st October.

Web: http://www.alno.co.uk