South Africa is discussing a R900 million (about US$45 million) sponsorship deal with English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur under which the country will get advertising and branding rights at the London club, APA learnt here on Wednesday.According to the Daily Maverick newspaper, it had documents showing that the government, through its marketing arm South African Tourism, was preparing to ink a sponsorship deal with the English Premier League team. 

The report said South Africa Tourism has proposed a three-year deal commencing at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League season and running until the end of the 2026/27 season. 

South Africa Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality in exchange for the sponsorship.

The newspaper said Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was in the picture about the proposed pact and that a South Africa Tourism delegation was expected to fly out on Thursday to sign off the deal.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Tourism said the proposal to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur was a “memorandum of understanding” between Spurs and South Africa Tourism and was “non-binding”.

It said the proposal is yet to be approved by the Treasury. 

“Like any board, the (SA Tourism) board is independent and Minister Sisulu does not interfere with its decisions,” it said.

If signed the deal would make South Africa the second African country to sponsor an EPL club after Rwanda which sponsors Arsenal.