The Shanghai Football Association (SFA) recently signed a sponsorship deal on January 18, with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB), allowing the latter to become the title sponsors of the Shanghai women’s football club for the next four years. 

According to The Paper, the sponsorship fee is 20m yuan per year. This eight-figure sponsorship fee will offer great financial support to the Shanghai women’s football club. In addition, SRCB will also provide a performance-based bonus to the team each season. In return, SRCB will get branding on the team's jersey and in the arena. 

However, this sponsorship will not change the operation of the team. SRCB said they would not interfere the team's management. Zhu Guanghu, the President of the SFA also said that the association would still take charge of the daily management of Shanghai women’s football team, while the Shanghai Sports Bureau will secure the training facilities for the team, player education, player and coach recruitment, as well as helping with player career transition. 

Currently, many women’s football clubs in China have started signing up overseas players. But Shanghai women’s football team will not be one of them with SFA head coach Shui Qingxia stating that it was not the best time for them to have foreign players and the team’s priority is to develop young players capable enough to become core players in the future. 

Shanghai women's football team was founded in 1984. According to a baidu profile page of the team, in 1998, the team became a professional football club, but in 2009 the owner of the club withdrew and the club was handed over to Shanghai Football Association. 

Source: Tencent Sports

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick