IMG brings in Tecate as sponsor of Liga MX ahead of 2021 Clausura

Tecate, a Mexican beer brand of global brewing giant Heineken, has signed up as a sponsor of Liga MX, the country's top soccer league.

The multi-year sponsorship deal was brokered by the IMG agency, and comes into effect for the start of the 2021 Guard1anes Clausura championship, which gets under way this evening.

Tecate will also be a sponsor of the second-tier Liga de Expansión and women's Liga MX Femenil.

The brand will be able to use official league logos and player images in advertising and marketing.

It is the first sponsor to come on board since Mikel Arriola was elected Liga MX president last month, succeeding Enrique Bonilla, who is heading up a new department focused on the international expansion of the league.

Arriola said: “Tecate is becoming a sponsor, an achievement of my predecessor Enrique Banillato whom I am very grateful, I appreciate that Tecate is betting on the huge potential of our Liga MX and I know that this alliance will bring positive things.”

He continued: “We are coming into a year when the economy will shrink between 10 and nine percentage points, we are coming from a very traumatic club closure, and getting more resources creates and strengthens a virtuous circle, we create good news because after a crisis there is a sponsor who trusts football.”

IMG already works with Heineken in the Americas having, via FC Diez Media, its joint venture with DAZN, brought its Amstel brand on board as a sponsor of the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, South America's top clubs competitions, until the end of the 2024 campaigns.