Troy Parrott's Ireland's heroics in Hungary buoy Sky's spons...

Troy Parrott's Ireland's heroics in Hungary buoy Sky's sponsorship deal with FAI

Sky's sponsorship ended four years without a major back for the Irish men's team. Much like its travails off the pitch, the men's side had been something of a distressed brand, and were unable to find a suitor since 3 had exited in 2020. Yet sports sponsorship has seen record deals in 2025. According to sponsorship consultants Onside, the market is now worth €236m – a 5% increase from 2024. Sky's decision to become main sponsors of Ireland's men's football team is likely to reap major rewards over the next two years. The launch of Sky Mobile in 2024 was the instigating factor to expand their deal with the FAI. "Last year was a big year from a business perspective for Sky Ireland. We were launching Sky Mobile. So we obviously had a huge advertising campaign behind us but we just felt in order to launch a real maximum impact, we looked at sponsorship," said Sky Ireland marketing and brand director Caroline Donnellan. "We were already affiliated with the Ireland women's team. At the time, our research was saying about 75% of Irish people were saying they were also fans of the men's team. "The mobile category was launching into a hugely competitive area with the other brands that are there, and they spend big in terms of advertising. They're also very involved in sponsorship - if you think of Vodafone and rugby. So we looked again to sponsorship to see do we need to expand out our sponsorship and we felt that we did." Vodafone's current deal to sponsor Ireland's rugby team is estimated to be worth around €20m over four years. The 'Team of Us' campaign has become one of the most recognised in all of Irish sport. The value of Sky's deal to sponsor the FAI has not been disclosed but is understood to be in the region of €2m annually. Parrott's winning goal in Budapest has had a transformative effect on the image surrounding the team. That feelgood factor will endure until March. Qualify for the World Cup and it will reap even more rewards. While Sky has battled to keep hold of its TV subscribers, amid changing viewing habits and the impact of 'dodgy boxes', it has seen its Sky Mobile customer base continue to grow. Sky had 13,000 customers by the end of 2024. Latest ComReg figures due out for the third quarter of 2025 will show that number has now passed 50,000. The company hopes the branding push with the FAI can help push this further. "If you look at it, we have a we have a potentially a super three years ahead of us, fingers crossed that we qualify for the World Cup next year with the men's," said Ms Donnellan. Obviously the women's World Cup qualification campaign will start now early next year and that will hopefully get us to to Brazil in 2027, and then we will be a host nation for the men's Euros in 2028." The partnership with the FAI will continue until then, and perhaps beyond. "It would be reviewed, but if it's still delivering from both our perspective and obviously the FAI, it's something that we'd be looking at positively."

Yet sports sponsorship has seen record deals in 2025. According to sponsorship consultants Onside, the market is now worth €236m – a 5% increase from 2024. Sky's decision to become main sponsors of Ireland's men's football team is likely to reap major rewards over the next two years.

The launch of Sky Mobile in 2024 was the instigating factor to expand their deal with the FAI. "Last year was a big year from a business perspective for Sky Ireland. We were launching Sky Mobile. So we obviously had a huge advertising campaign behind us but we just felt in order to launch a real maximum impact, we looked at sponsorship," said Sky Ireland marketing and brand director Caroline Donnellan.

"We were already affiliated with the Ireland women's team. At the time, our research was saying about 75% of Irish people were saying they were also fans of the men's team.

"The mobile category was launching into a hugely competitive area with the other brands that are there, and they spend big in terms of advertising. They're also very involved in sponsorship - if you think of Vodafone and rugby. So we looked again to sponsorship to see do we need to expand out our sponsorship and we felt that we did."

Vodafone's current deal to sponsor Ireland's rugby team is estimated to be worth around €20m over four years. The 'Team of Us' campaign has become one of the most recognised in all of Irish sport.

The value of Sky's deal to sponsor the FAI has not been disclosed but is understood to be in the region of €2m annually. Parrott's winning goal in Budapest has had a transformative effect on the image surrounding the team.

That feelgood factor will endure until March. Qualify for the World Cup and it will reap even more rewards. While Sky has battled to keep hold of its TV subscribers, amid changing viewing habits and the impact of 'dodgy boxes', it has seen its Sky Mobile customer base continue to grow. Sky had 13,000 customers by the end of 2024. Latest ComReg figures due out for the third quarter of 2025 will show that number has now passed 50,000. The company hopes the branding push with the FAI can help push this further.

"If you look at it, we have a we have a potentially a super three years ahead of us, fingers crossed that we qualify for the World Cup next year with the men's," said Ms Donnellan. Obviously the women's World Cup qualification campaign will start now early next year and that will hopefully get us to to Brazil in 2027, and then we will be a host nation for the men's Euros in 2028."

The partnership with the FAI will continue until then, and perhaps beyond. "It would be reviewed, but if it's still delivering from both our perspective and obviously the FAI, it's something that we'd be looking at positively."