Press Release October 2, 2019

Contribution of DenizBank to sports enhancing with DenizBank is the Global Sponsor of Euroleague Basketball

Having supported the development and enhancement of sports in Turkey through various channels for long years, DenizBank has signed the Global Sponsorship Agreement with Euroleague Basketball, the most prestigious organization of European basketball at the level of clubs.

With this partnership which will last for 6 years starting from the 2019-2020 season, the Bank will be global sponsor of Turkish Airlines Euroleague and 7DAYS EuroCup championships.

DenizBank’s CEO, Hakan Ateş said, “An exciting companionship has started between our Bank and the championship that is followed in more than 200 countries with a global rating performance. With our partnership, we have established our presence in this field, which we started by saying ‘yes to sports’, on a more solid foundation, and we contribute to the embrace of basketball within the society in a broader sense. ”

Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball President and CEO, said: "It is a pleasure to welcome DenizBank as our new global partner. Denizbank has an excellent reputation among all their loyal customers as one of the biggest banks in Turkey and other countries and territories. With this new agreement, we open an outstanding promotional window for Denizbank with an accumulated audience of 3.13 billion during last season, while supporting them with their continuous development and enhancement of sports."

Having adopted this important mission to enhance the sports culture in Turkey to include various branches and to contribute to the future of the Turkish sports and sports players, DenizBank has started a vital collaboration with EuroLeague Basketball, which is the highest level of the European basketball.

A solid signature for the future of the basketball

With the 6-year agreement signed, the Bank is the exclusive global financial sponsor of the Euroleague Basketball. Hence, DenizBank has enhanced the extent of its support to the various branches of sports, mainly being football, and has added a global organization to its sponsorships. In 2013, the Bank was the name sponsor of the CEV Volleyball Men and Women Champions League, which is another important organization in Europe, for 3 seasons.

Seven legendary basketball players become DenizBank employees

In the frame of the partnership, a commercial was shot with seven legendary players of Euroleague. The commercial starred Bryant Dunston and from Anadolu Efes, Jan Vesely and from Fenerbahçe BEKO, Sergio Rodriguez from AX Armani Exchange Milan, Ante Tomic from Barcelona and Will Clyburn from CSKA Moscow as bank employees. A sincere talk on sports and finance took place between the basketball players and DenizBank’s CEO, Hakan Ateş, who visited the film set during camera shooting.

DenizBank’s CEO Hakan Ateş stated that they were pleased to be touching the lives of sports lovers in the arena of basketball which had become more and more attractive with an increasing trend in the last years, and he added; “Euroleague Basketball, which is the top level basketball tournament in the continental Europe with a deep rooted history, is considered the reference of basketball, while contributing immensely to the development of the sports spirit and awareness. In recent years, Turkish teams Fenerbahce and Anadolu Efes have been among the essentials of the final fours in Turkish Airlines Euroleague and Fenerbahçe bacame a champion, in addition Galatasaray and Darüşşafaka got championships in 7DAYS EuroCup, which alla re a great source of honor for us. Such successful performance of course leads to a tremendous increase of attraction to basketball among young Turkish people. In 80’s, the interest in basketball started in Turkey with the TV series named The White Shadow which was aired on the TV channel TRT and in which I was also involved as a voice actor, and now this interest has even increased with the successful performance of the Turkish teams, of which we are really proud.

Mr. Ates added: ”As DenizBank, we have been doing our best to contribute to the cultural and social development of the youth that we see as the future of our country from the first day we were founded. Our main purpose, for sure, is to popularize the sports awareness among young people; but additionally, we also aim at supporting the flow of funds to the olympic sports branches through our football investments. After all, it is our social duty to assure that the sports is embraced by a wider segment of the society and to contribute to raising successful sports players of the future. I hope this partnership would bring good luck and prosperity to the parties and Turkish sports".

EuroLeague’s CEO, Jordi Bertomeu expressed his feelings about this partnership with the following words: "It is a pleasure to welcome DenizBank as our new global partner. Denizbank has an excellent reputation among all their loyal customers as one of the biggest banks in Turkey and other countries and territories. With this new agreement, we open an outstanding promotional window for Denizbank with an accumulated audience of 3.13 billion during last season, while supporting them with their continuous development and enhancement of sports."

Please contact: Bersay İletişim Danışmanlığı / 0212 337 51 00 Anıl Erbayrak / Tel: 0212 337 51 17 / GSM: 0553 317 46 06 / [email protected]