English football sponsorship

Corporate sponsorship of major English football competitions dates back to the early 1980s, although minor competitions such as the Watney Cup and Texaco Cup were sponsored during the early 1970s.The first competition to be a negotiate a sponsorship deal was the League Cup, negotiating a deal in 1982 with the Milk Marketing Board. It became known as the "Milk Cup" and has since adopted the name of its sponsors in this same way.The following season in 1983 the Football League negotiated a sponsorship deal with Canon. Since the formation of the breakaway Premier League in 1992, the competition has struck up its own sponsorship deals separately from the Football League (though it was unsponsored in its first season).
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