Ford and BT line up 4m World Cup sponsorship deal

Ford and BT have emerged as the final two sponsors of the Rugby World Cup to be held in Wales this year.

They have paid 2m each to sponsor the fourth finals, which gives them access to official World Cup logos and perimeter board advertising at all 41 games.

The other competition sponsors are: Coca-Cola, Guinness, Visa, Lloyds TSB, Xerox and South African Airways.

All the sponsorship packages were sold by sports agency International Management Group (IMG), which has so far raised 16m for the competition.

IMG has sold all the official sponsorship packages and a lower status supplier package to software company Unisys. Five supplier sponsorships remain to be sold.

The finals begin on October 1 and run through to the final on November 6. The opening and closing games will be played in the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff – scheduled for completion this summer.

The competition is expected to gain a cumulative TV audience of 3 billion across 135 countries. The total live attendance for all 41 matches is projected to be 1.5 million.