Global Fútbol

Girona FC have become the first pet-friendly club in the world thanks to a sponsorship agreement with Gosbi, the pet food brand which, from the 2021/22 season onwards, is the club's main sponsor. In the view of the club’s general director Ignasi Mas-Bagà, this relationship “goes beyond a traditional sporting sponsorship arrangement”. In this vein, Girona FC and the club sponsor have carried out numerous initiatives that have the aim of creating a social impact and championing respect for animals.

Mas-Bagà added: “From day one, we sat down with the people in charge of Gosbi and understood the enormous potential in being able to do things differently and being able to do things that are relevant to society.” With this in mind, Girona FC and Gosbi have jointly organised several initiatives that have a social focus and the aim of bringing the animal world closer to football fans and of normalising the presence of animals in society.

Even though the worlds of pets and football may seem very different, for Girona FC there is more in common than it might appear at first. As Mas-Bagà pointed out: “Pets are an important part of modern society, and it has been shown that our fans are also passionate and sentimental about them.”

The reception from the club’s supporters has been “very positive”, while the same is true with the Girona business community. It is clear that Gosbi has the potential to promote various activations that can bring about a real and positive impact on the animal world. One of these initiatives is called ‘Animal Respect on Tour’, through which Gosbi delivers 300 kilograms of pet food to animal protection associations in the city of the opposing team at every away game played by Girona FC. With this, more than 8,000 kilograms of food has already been delivered since the start of last season.

The involvement of players in the creation of related content is fundamental for achieving as large an impact as possible and the club called upon a number of its squad members for its ‘Animal Adoption Campaign’. The players were to choose a dog for adoption from the Los Adoptadores platform and, together with Gosbi, they created content to promote the selected dog to help it get adopted.

There have been many more collaborations between the club and sponsor. There was also, for another example, an ‘Animal Respect Challenge’ that created content to raise awareness among young people about the importance of animal respect. This included visits to local schools, with more than 400 pupils from 11 schools taking part in the challenge last year. Furthermore, one euro from every shirt Girona FC sells in its official shop is donated to an animal protection association.

Canya, the official dog of the club

Another recent development at the world's first pet-friendly club was the presentation of ‘Canya’, the official dog of Girona FC. ‘Canya’, who even has an official Instagram profile, is a four-year-old Labrador Retriever who is trained to interact with children and with the elderly and who is comfortable in large crowds. Therefore, she can be present on matchdays along with her handler, with fans able to meet her and have their photos taken in a fanzone. Before kick-off, the club dog also goes for a walk around the perimeter of the pitch, greeting the supporters. As Mas-Bagà commented: “This is the latest example of how to activate sponsorship in an innovative way, with many more similar initiatives to follow in the coming months.”

As well as looking at the figures related to the business side of sponsors, Girona FC want to attract partners who have a desire to activate their sponsorship in a way that is relevant to the fans. As Mas-Bagà concluded: “Fans want activations that go beyond traditional sports sponsorship. We have noticed that they respond much better when you can surprise them with actions that involve relevant social issues, such as the animal world, which is definitely something that many fans are interested in and they value the respectful approach towards them.”