Laliga Rebrands Top Two Tiers
The top two tiers of Spanish football, LaLiga, are officially changing names for the 2016/17 season, once the sponsorship deal with the bank BBVA comes to an end.
LaLiga is officially rebranding its top two divisions, with LaLiga and LaLiga2 becoming the official names of the competitions, following the conclusion of the previous sponsorship deal with BBVA.
The banking institution has been a LaLiga partner since the 2007/08 season when the second tier was rebranded as the Liga BBVA. One year later, the sponsorship agreement was extended, with the top flight renamed the Liga BBVA, while Liga Adelante became the official name for the second division. These versions remained until the end of the 2015/16 campaign.
BBVA was the sponsor for LaLiga for nine seasons and oversaw a total of 3,040 top flight fixtures, 4,158 in the second tier and 42 playoff ties, which were introduced in the 2010/11 campaign in order for the teams that finish third, fourth, fifth and sixth to battle it out for promotion to the top tier.
The decision to continue without a title sponsor and undertake a clean rebrand is similar to the Premier League, which saw the top tier of English football change its sponsorship model following the recent conclusion of Barclays’ title partnership.
