AC Milan has partnered with Skrill to become the Italian football club’s Official Global Payments Partner.
Although the deal was signed some weeks ago, and the Skrill name has already appeared in the San Siro stadium on several occasions, both parties were reluctant to talk about marketing activities at a time when both the Club and Italy were enduring the devastating arrival and impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Instead, both Skrill and AC Milan refocused their efforts and found ways to support the local community, putting the partnership activation plans on a temporary hold.
While the COVID-19 crisis is far from over, following the return to training last week, the two companies feel the time is now right to talk more about their collaboration and their hopes for players and fans that football matches will soon make a come back in some capacity.
Founded in 2001, Skrill is a leader in digital payments providing a platform which supports multiple payment methods including credit cards, prepaid cards and real-time banking solutions in over 100 countries. Merchants using Skrill are able to promote their services to millions of Skrill users around the world. Furthermore, Skrill provides chargeback protection to merchants, so payments accepted using its platform are guaranteed. Skrill is part of Paysafe, a leading specialised payments platform.
Skrill has a track record of supporting football as well as other popular sports and identified AC Milan as an ideal partner, given the highly relevant profile of the team’s fan base and followers around the world, combined with Skrill’s general popularity in Italy.
As part of the partnership agreement, Skrill has become the preferred payments partner for AC Milan merchandise sales and is a live payments option on its international online store which serves fans around the world. The partnership also means that Skrill branding will be prominently displayed at all AC Milan home matches and promoted on an ongoing basis across the club’s online channels including its website and official App, as well as its hugely popular social media channels.
Skrill has additionally been integrated into Vivaticket giving fans the option of using Skrill’s digital wallet when buying match tickets and other AC Milan experiences once they resume.
According to Skrill CEO, Lorenzo Pellegrino an Italian national, “It has been heart-breaking to see this devastating situation unfold in my home country and then around the world and the timing just wasn’t right to talk about our partnership. Instead, we refocused our efforts on supporting the local community and dropped our fees on our Skrill money transfer service for anyone who wanted to send money to loved ones in Italy from outside of the country.
Pellegrino added: “Now, in the hope that football is going to make some sort of comeback in the not too distant future, we feel the timing is right to talk openly about our deep support of the Club. I’m confident there will be good times ahead and we will emerge from this crisis stronger and more resilient than ever. We’re absolutely thrilled to be the Club’s new payments partner and will continue to seek ways to add value to the Club’s payment ecosystem.”
Casper Stylsvig, AC Milan’s Chief Revenue Officer added: “We are delighted to welcome Skrill to our growing family of partners and look forward to promoting its leading digital payments offering to our millions of fans and followers around the world. We share many synergies, with both of our organisations being driven by ambition, focus and results . As we look to the future and an on-pitch return, we are committed to working closely with Lorenzo and his team to make this a winning partnership for all concerned. Bringing global brands such as Skrill on board is an integral part of our strategy to bring this club back to where it deserves to be.”
Luca Montebugnoli, Executive Chairman of Vivaticket commented: “As we hopefully return to some sort of normality over the coming weeks and months, our customers more than ever will be looking for the widest choice of payment options when buying their tickets and experiences on our platform. Over these recent weeks, people have become even more attuned to using digital payment methods such as those provided by Skrill and we’re really pleased to be adding their solutions as part of our offering.”
Skrill branding was first activated in the San Siro stadium in February and has already driven significant incremental traffic to Skrill’s website and social media channels.
