Doğa Sigorta continues to be the title sponsor of the Men’s Basketball Team of Galatasaray, one of Turkey’s largest and oldest sports clubs, throughout the season of 2019/2020.

Two institutions signed the partnership agreement marking the continuation of the sponsorship during a press conference which was held at Swissotel Bosphorus with the attendance of Mustafa Cengiz, Chairman of Galatasaray Sports Club, and Nihat Kırmızı, Chairman of Doğa Sigorta. Players and technical staff of Galatasaray Doğa Sigorta Basketball Team, and managers of both Doğa Sigorta and Galatasaray Sports Club also attended the meeting, which also acted as a motivation before the first game of the season.

Mustafa Cengiz, Chairman of Galatasaray Sports Club, said: “We had two successful seasons with Doğa Sigorta and other sponsors. I would like to thank Doğa Sigorta for supporting us especially for our Men’s Basketball Team. Since we partnered with Doğa Sigorta, we have never been beaten until the semi-finals. As you know, Galatasaray was the first club to introduce basketball and volleyball to Turkey. The title of “Unbeatable Armada” belongs to Galatasaray. Last season, Galatasaray Doğa Sigorta made strides to be among the top three with conscious and humble budgets, and managed to meet this target. With Güneş Sigprta, we want to create a model which is self-sufficient and can increase revenue in the long term.” 

Nihat Kırmızı, Chairman of Doğa Sigorta, said: “We are happy to be supporting Galatasaray Club and the basketball team with our sponsorship agreement which began in the season of 2018/2019. This year, we will have much more comprehensive and influential social responsibility projects in addition to those we participated together with the team last year.”

“Although football sponsorship is demanded more and has a higher impact and visibility in our country; sharing the pleasure and proud of supporting the amateur branches and contributing to the improvement of social conscious adds special value to institutions,” he said. “I believe that living the achievements of branches that need support for development and sustainability shoulder-to-shoulder with the team serves the main cause and meaning of sponsorship.” Underlining that as a company with a high conscious of social responsibility, they acted according to the principle of ‘as the twig is bent, so grows the tree’; he said that they supported several local, amateur and university clubs with the aim of helping the young people love sports and creating a basis for raising successful players. He expressed their happiness to have paved the way for insurance market to support and invest in sports activities, while pioneering the market for new sponsorship agreements with the steps they have taken. He added that they were proud to hear Doğa Sigorta brand being mentioned alongside Galatasaray Sports Club.

Nihat Kırmızı also said that after the sponsorship agreement with Galatasaray Basketball Team, which set out with a brand new sportive team and was therefore subject to frequent criticism last season, a great synergy and motivation was born; structures and spirits of the two institutions were in harmony, and Galatasaray Doğa Sigorta Basketball Team rapidly climbed the success stairs to play in the semi-finals. Emphasizing that finals and championship suit this team well, Nihat Kırmızı said that they managed to outpace teams with much bigger budgets. Stating that not everything is achieved with great budgets, Kırmızı underlined the importance of motivation and synergy created by sponsorships that harmonizes the club and the sponsor company.
 

Nihat Kırmızı highlighted the importance of allocating a big part of their marketing budget for basketball sponsorship -which was especially important considering that it is an amateur branch- during a time of economic downturn when sponsorships are tightening, as a company that has engaged in advertising and marketing activities for brand recognitions since their foundation. He also expressed their satisfaction in pioneering the insurance market in terms of sponsoring sports clubs and activities.

Adding that he had full trust in Galatasaray Doğa Sigorta to have a much more successful season this year, Kırmızı said that they aimed higher number of audiences thanks to new activities and special gifts planned for better fan support during the games. He also expressed wishes of success for the team and technical staff, while thanking the management team of Galatasaray Sports Club for their strong cooperation.