Corporate sponsorship of major English football

Football in England

Association football is a national sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game...

 competitions dates back to the early 1980s, although minor competitions such as the Watney Cup

Watney Cup

The Watney Mann Invitation Cup was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s....

 and Texaco Cup

Texaco Cup

The Texaco Cup was an association football competition involving clubs from England, Ireland and Scotland that had not qualified for European competitions. Irish clubs withdrew from the competition after 1971-72 due to political pressure, and in 1973-74 and 1974-75 competed in a separate Texaco Cup...

 were sponsored during the early 1970s.

The first competition to negotiate a sponsorship deal was the League Cup

Football League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...

, negotiating a deal in 1982 with the Milk Marketing Board

Dairy Crest

Dairy Crest Group plc is a major dairy products company in the United Kingdom. Its brands include Cathedral City Cheddar cheese, Utterly Butterly, Vitalite, Clover, St Ivel and Frijj. The company delivers milk to around 1.1 million households via their milkmen...

. It became known as the "Milk Cup" and has since adopted the name of its sponsors in this same way.

The following season in 1983 the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 negotiated a sponsorship deal with Canon

Canon Inc.

is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...

.