Crvena Zvezda Football Club

With a view to promote its brand in the foreign market, Gazprom became in 2010 the general sponsor of the Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) football club from Serbia. The sponsorship package includes advertisement of Gazprom neft's brand by placing its logo on sports uniforms and within the Crvena Zvezda stadium premises as well as other types of marketing cooperation. The sponsorship support also stipulates building up reserves to finance the club's youth team.

Being Serbia's national brand, Crvena Zvezda is a football club with a wealth of history. Since its establishment in 1945, Crvena Zvezda has become a repeat winner of Serbian championship and national cup. Among the club's European trophies are the Mitropa Cup and the Danube Cup. In 1991 Crvena Zvezda won two most prominent trophies: the Champions Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. The Crvena Zvezda fan club numbers 4 million Balkan citizens from all social groups. 

Gazprom chose the Serbian football club for a good reason. In 2009 Gazprom entered the foreign market of oil refining for the first time ever – its subsidiary company Gazprom neft acquired a 51 per cent stake in the Serbian oil company NIS, thus becoming a major investor of Serbia.

NIS is one of the largest energy companies in southeastern Europe. Its core activities are exploration, production and processing of oil and natural gas, marketing of derived products, and implementation of petrochemical and energy projects. NIS is the owner of the Pancevo Refinery, one of the most advanced refineries in the region. The company carries out its activities in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Romania.