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The traditional presentation and press conference announcing A.C. Milan's new commercial partners and initiatives for the 2009/2010 season was held at the San Siro stadium on Thursday.

Adriano Galliani, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A.C. Milan and Marco Bogarelli, President of Infront Italy and Member of the Infront Board of Directors, announced a new partnership between A.C. Milan and Infront Sports & Media. Infront will support the club in marketing and implementation of its key sponsorship rights (excluding the main sponsor and kit supplier package) through its subsidiary Infront Italy, starting from the 2010/2011 season until the end of the 2015/2016 season. The occasion also marked the debut of four new sponsor partners: AWS (courier service), Liotondol (local anti-inflammatory drug), Nokia (world’s leading mobile phone supplier) and Caldirola (Wine House).

Infront succeeds Digital '08 (Publitalia Group), which is leaving the sponsorship market to focus its business on digital terrestrial television advertising sales. The Infront Group is one of the leading international sports marketing agencies and has a strong role both in football and the Italian market. It is the Lega Calcio’s exclusive advisor in the exploitation of the national and international media rights for Serie A and Serie B, Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup, starting from the 2010/2011 season, for six seasons.

Adriano Galliani, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A.C Milan said: “The sports sponsorship market has evolved dramatically in recent years. Once, it was enough to display a sponsor brand and board around the pitch. Today, this is a more sophisticated job – we still need to offer brand exposure, but it needs to be enhanced by activation. This path of improvement continues and from now on we will work with Infront Sports & Media which has a strong international network throughout the world. This allows us to further expand our reach, taking advantage of our potential abroad.”

Marco Bogarelli, Member of the Board of Directors of Infront and President of Infront Italy, said: “With the addition of A.C. Milan to our portfolio of Italian clubs - including S.S. Lazio Rome, S.S. Città di Palermo and Cagliari Calcio - we are taking another important step forward in the Italian football world. Our main objective is to achieve greater balance in the club’s revenue sources. Many clubs are still too dependent on revenue generated from television rights. We believe that the sponsorship and advertising of Italian football teams still has a way to go, both in terms of the existing product and in developing additional revenue options. Both partners will mutually benefit from the strong position in the world of club football and international sports marketing respectively.”

Milan’s sponsorship inventory is sold out
Despite the current economic downturn, Milan’s sponsorship inventory is sold out in all categories; proof of the commercial value and strategic positioning direction of the A.C. Milan brand. It is known throughout the world. A.C. Milan is the most popular club in Europe and South America (Source: SPORT+MARKT, Football Top 2008/09), as well as the first international club to be widely promoted in China and Brazil, even before Barcelona and Manchester United (Source: TNS Sports, September 2009). The excellence of "Made in Italy" is directly associated with the colours of the “Rossoneri”. The club has the highest brand value among all Italian clubs (Source: Brand Finance, The most valuable European football club brands 2009) and is officially billed as the most successful football club in the world.

After the press conference, the Milan’s Marketing and Sales Department held sessions to inform commercial partners about opportunities offered through their collaboration with the Club, as well as presenting new initiatives developed for this season. These included projects in the field of Online Marketing and CRM, in particular the new version of Milan’s dedicated Web-TV channel “Milan Time”, A.C. Milan’s application for iPhone and the second year of “Milan at School” and the “Milan Mall Tour” programmes.