Gulf Air put shirts on QPR

It is understood Queens Park Rangers Football Club is poised to reveal a multi-million pound deal with Gulf Air as shirt sponsors, in what is thought will be a three-year sponsorship.

The deal with the Bahrain-based airline is the latest lucrative example of the revamped sponsorship strategy QPR has adopted since chairman Flavio Briatore rescued the club from bankruptcy last year.

Two weeks ago, QPR signed Abbey for a seven-figure sum as its official financial services partner (MW June 19). The two-year deal will provide Abbey with joint branding at the club’s Loftus Road stadium, and the Santander-owned bank will work on local football initiatives as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.

And in March, Italian firm Lotto Sport Italia signed a five-year deal as kit manufacturer, worth £20m, one of the biggest ever in Championship history.

Renault Formula One boss Briatore, along with fellow investors Bernie Ecclestone, who holds F1 commercial rights, and Britain’s richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, says the plan is to develop QPR into a “global brand”.

Gulf Air, like Santander, is involved in Formula One. The airline sponsors the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The club’s previous deals with Car Giant, Le Coq Sportifp and Sellotape all expired at the end of the 2007/08 football season and were not renewed.