CONI and the BNP-Paribas owned company have been in partnership for over 70 years and the progression of their long-standing deal is set to provide several benefits for Italian Olympians.

BNL Group will continue to have exclusive marketing rights in both the banking and financial services sector, with the company committed to providing financial assistance to help reduce costs of playing sport in Italy.

Their support is not purely financial however as they will also aid athletes who may have come to the end of their careers to get involved with the business through its “EduCare” for Sport initiative as part of the agreement.

The project, launched by BNL Group in 2008, involves senior and youth level athletes as well as university students, who learn more about economic and financial education through a series of training opportunities.

Around 4,000 such events have been organised with the participation of up to 80,000 people and roughly 8,000 companies, and they are often attended by banking experts, other professionals and sports managers.

These will include mentoring of young sports people keen to begin a new career as well as other young residents whose business start-up model links to sport.

The agreement between CONI and BNL Group was officially announced at the recent Rome Masters tennis tournament, of which BNL is a title sponsor.

The tournament itself is one of the best recognised on the Masters circuit and this year’s event was won by Beijing 2008 Olympic Games bronze medallist Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

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