The International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced a new global partnership with Aramco, seeing the world’s largest oil and energy company sponsoring all major men’s and women’s events scheduled until the end of 2023.
In that period, the 80-year-old Saudi company will sponsor this year’s men’s T20 world Cup, as well as the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup, the ICC World Test Championship Final, and the ICC cricket World Cup.
The deal, which see’s Aramco pick up the naming rights for the ICC’s player of the match awards, will give company’s branding exposure to more than one billion cricket fans.
Additionally, as part of the ICC’s push for sustainability and innovation, Aramco will install recycling machines across all seven Australian World Cup match venues, with plastic waste from these events to be recycled into clothing for future ICC events.
Commenting on the new deal, ICC chief executive, Goeff Allardice, said: “We are delighted to welcome Aramco into the family of ICC global partners.”
“Our shared commitment to excellence is the foundation of the partnership and we are looking forward to working with Aramco on out major men’s and women’s events through to the end of 2023,” he said.
Aramco global public affairs general manager, Talal Al-Marri, added: “This represents a significant addition to our network of global partnerships and we are pleases to join forces with the ICC.”
“Excellence is one of our core values and this is reflected in our support of cricket at the elite level.
“It is a sport that demands high levels of focus, teamwork, discipline, integrity and ability – and these are all attributes that we value highly at Aramco.
The announcement of this new partnership came shortly before the beginning of the 2022 T20 Men’s World Cup where the ICC is set to launch new digital fan experiences through their official ICC World Cup app.