Women’s Professional Soccer officially announced Friday that Citi, the leading global finance services company, will appear on the jerseys of all eight teams in 2010.
Citi is the league’s first national jersey sponsor, and its logo will appear on the back of every WPS kit below the numbers.
“Given our global reach, Citi is thrilled to contribute to the growth of the world’s most popular game here in the United States,” said Mark Ingall, Citi Managing Director, Global Strategic Media. “More and more Americans, including millions of women and girls, play and follow the game. This partnership will be an effective platform to attract and retain customers, including young women and families in local communities across the country. We are very pleased to support these tremendous athletes and their passionate fans.”
The announcement is a major one for WPS, as Citi carries a massively large name in the financial world. It also has a stake in the sporting world, perhaps most notably with Citi Field, the new home of the MLB’s New York Mets.
The league also expects to have four teams with presenting sponsors on the front of their jerseys. Credit to an anonymous commenter on that post for spotting the Citi partnership earlier in the week.
U.S. U-17 Women Smash Cayman Islands
I am not totally sure what to even say about this game, but the United States U-17 Women topped the Cayman Islands by a whopping score of 13-0 on Friday. This came after defeating Haiti 9-0 on Wednesday in the opening game of group play at the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship.
The Cayman Islands only managed to touch the ball twice in the U.S. half of the field in the opening 45 minutes. Read more here, though I am not sure how much there really is to say about this one. The U.S. rounds out group play against Costa Rica on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
ALSO:
- Check out Carli Lloyd on the Jared Montz podcast, talking about the Algarve Cup, Sky Blue FC, her old team (Chicago Red Stars), and everything in between.
- Lisa Eisenmenger chatted with Breakers Head Coach Tony DiCicco and defender Stephanie Cox about the LA Sol. Check that out here.
- The Washington Freedom topped the Chicago Red Stars in preseason action Friday. Sarah Huffman (12′) and Lisa De Vanna (29′) scored for Washington, while Ella Masar (61′) had the lone goal for Chicago.
“I think in the first half, this was the first time that we played together and it showed,” Red Stars Head Coach Emma Hayes said. “Washington exploited that. But the longer the game went on, the better we got, and we were more comfortable with the ball. We were more organized defensively. We got out of this game what we wanted.”
