bKash becomes regional brand partner of Argentine Football Association

An AFA official says the association and the company will promote each other

Mobile financial service provider bKash has sealed a deal to become the first regional brand partner of the Argentine Football Association, or AFA, in Bangladesh.

“The AFA and bKash will jointly promote each other and develop actions that will increase the synergy and power of their brands,” bKash said in a statement on Monday, quoting Leandro Petersen, chief commercial and marketing officer of AFA.

“It is our mission to work together and strengthen this partnership and continue generating new opportunities and interactions with international brands at the level of bKash.”

During the 2022 World Cup, Argentina received unprecedented support and warmth from Bangladeshi fans as always.

Fans in their tens of thousands thronged the streets of Bangladesh to celebrate Argentina’s World Cup victory in December 2022.

In February this year, Argentina reopened its embassy in Dhaka after 45 years and signed a football cooperation deal much to the delight of Bangladeshi fans of World Cup winners Lionel Messi and Co. 

bKash said the AFA has devised diverse brand expansion programmes in countries like Bangladesh, India, China and and those in the Middle East after years of support for Argentina National Football Team worldwide.

It said bKash and the AFA will now be a “bridge between die-hard football fans and their favourite superstars like Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Julián Alvarez, Emi Martinez - just to name a few”.

“For millions of Bangladeshis, their enduring love for football lives with their magical experience of watching Diego Maradona, one of the greatest footballers in history, play and win at the FIFA World Cup.”

Claudio Fabian Tapia, president of AFA, said the Argentina National Football Team felt throughout the World Cup “the strong and passionate support of the Bangladeshi community”.

“We are very delighted to have bKash, an emblematic Bangladeshi FinTech company, as the first regional brand partner of the Argentine Football Association. This collaboration will take us closer to new regions where our National Football Team has millions of fans.”

Kamal Quadir, founder and CEO of bKash, said this partnership will explore new opportunities of solidarity through sports and entertainment while “helping to tell the inspiring story of Bangladesh to the world in an immersive and emotional way”.