DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Al Nasr Football Club and Al Rostamani Group today announced that they have agreed a sponsorship deal for the Al Rostamani Group to become the Al Nasr Football Club’s sponsor for the 2009/10 season with a further 2 year option. The deal will see the Al Rostamani Group brand first appear at the upcoming match on Friday 30^th October between Al Nasr and Al Wasl in the Al Maktoum Stadium.

The Al Rostamani Group will focus on a number of community initiatives through it’s partnership with Al Nasr as part of its social responsibility initiative which will generate substantial exposure for the Al Rostamani Group.

Sheikh Maktoum Bin Hasher Al Maktoum, Chairman of Al Nasr said, “I would like to thank Al Rostamani Group for this partnership and support of the Al Nasr Football Club, and through this sponsorship initiative in sport through Dubai we seek mutual growth for both partners.”

Marwan Abdullah Al Rostamani, Chairman of the Al Rostamani Group commented, “We are proud to be the sponsors of the football team and are delighted to be part of the vision and plans of Al Nasr Football Club and see great synergies between what the club is trying to achieve and the values we stand for as a Group. We are looking forward to working with Al Nasr to ensure its fans, our customers, employees and the community all benefit from the activities.”

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Sheikh Maktoum Bin Hasher Al Maktoum
His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum is the Chairman of the Dubai International Holdings (DIHC) and CEO of Al Fajer Enterprises, a business conglomerate which has over 18,000 employees with an annual turnover of approximately AED 5.8 billion. He was appointed as the President of Al Fajer Properties (AFP) in early 2008. Immediately after his appointment he restructured AFP which is now a profitable real estate venture. Sheikh Maktoum was recently awarded the MENA `CEO of the Year’ Award in the property sector. Earlier in 2007, the Davos-based World Economic Forum honoured him with the prestigious `Young Global Leader’ award. He has also been honoured with the Young CEO of the Year award for 2008 by the Middle East Excellence Awards institute presented by the former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. A member of the Dubai’s ruling family, Sheikh Maktoum is a graduate with BS/BA in finance with Honours from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Sheikh Maktoum entered the world of International business investments at a very early age and he was one of the founding investors of Virgin Megastores in the UAE. He was also the director of Shadar Holdings, where he held partnerships in the United Arab Emirates divisions of Virgin Megastores, Pull and Bear, and Bershka. Sheikh Maktoum has an avid interest in sports. He is the founder of A1 Grand Prix, which he sold out later to the UK-based investment firm, RAB Capital in 2006. In addition to motor sports, Sheikh Maktoum is a soccer aficionado and in 2009 was appointed as Chairman of the Al Nasr Sports Club.

Al Nasr Club
Al Nasr’s Board of Directors comprises of the most senior and experienced leaders in the UAE. The President – and the foundation of the club – is His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance. The Board of Directors is led by the Chairman, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Hasher Al Maktoum.

Al Nasr meaning “Victory” was founded in 1945 by a group of young men with a strong vision and passion for creating the team, in Mohamed Ali Zain’s land in Al Gobaiba. A resolution was issued three years later which transformed the team into a club with a clear vision and mission and this was when Al Nasr, as we know it today was born. From that moment Al Nasr was embedded into the sporting history of the UAE as a club that pioneered the way for its communities to create sporting champions.

The most successful period in Al Nasr’s history came in the 80’s winning 6 major trophies including the League, Presidents Cup, Federation and Asian Super cup. Al Nasr’s ambitions to re-ignite its glory days of the 80’s is truly underway.

In preparing for the 2009-2010 season, the Directors and Management of the club have been working together with the key focus of strengthening Al Nasr’s first team. New recruits include Ecuador international Carlos Tenorio (known as ‘Tornado’), the two Dutch nationalised Moroccan imports Anouar Diba and Ali Boussaboun plus the elusive Iranian international playmaker Iman Mob Ali, together with the UAE national team goalkeeper Ismail Rabih, striker Mohamed Mal Allah, and defender Tarek Ahmed. Undoubtedly, these players will add further strength to the already established team stars such as Mohamed Ibrahim, Kathem Ali, Mousallem Ahmed, Amer Moubarak Ghanem, Younes Ahmed, Hamid Abbas, goalkeeper Abdullah Moussa, Mohamed Khamis, and Mahmoud Hasan. Al Nasr’s intentions are clearly an exciting prospect.

Al Rostamani Group
The Al Rostamani Group is one of the largest and oldest business conglomerates in the United Arab Emirates. Founded in 1957 with the late Mr. Abdullah Hassan Al Rostamani as Chairman, the group has grown steadfastly and conscientiously over the last 50 years with the guiding principles of commitment, care and futuristic vision with a genuine concern for the community. The Al Rostamani Group has a number of businesses in such high growth and diversified areas as general trading, automobiles and heavy equipment, travel, foreign exchange, financial services, property development, construction, building materials trading, infrastructure development, telecommunications, information technology services and recycling. The success of the group is also due to its ability to forge longstanding alliances, joint ventures, dealerships and license arrangements with leading worldwide organizations such as Michelin, Castrol, Suzuki, Renault, Nissan Diesel, NEC, Avaya and Alcatel Lucent to name a few. These relationships have been carefully nurtured so that the Al Rostamani Group now touches the lives of people and is an active member in the society of the UAE and beyond in many different ways. Investments in several European countries and relationships with Japanese, French, German, Dutch and Indian companies are steps to spreading its influence further a field. Together with an employee base of 5000 belonging to 38 different countries the group fosters diversity and is poised for further growth.

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