FA Cup sponsors AXA have withdrawn a charge that the Football Association acted "unprofessionally" in unveiling their recent shift in sponsorship strategy in the wake of threats of legal action from the governing body.
The FA announced last Friday that they intended to reduce their number of main sponsors from 10 to five next season, with each of them being involved with the FA Cup and the England team.
That meant a considerable change for AXA, who paid Stg£25million over four years to sponsor the FA Cup, and Nationwide, who put in £12million over the same period to back England, when their contracts run out next year.
However, while Nationwide immediately looked forward to assessing the new options, AXA's head of corporate affairs, Phil Hickley, let fly with a stinging condemnation of the governing body last week.
He insisted AXA had only learned of the change from the media and told the Evening Standard: "You would have thought the FA would have had enough courtesy, if not professionalism, to inform one of their main sponsors. It's staggering really."
A series of high-level phone calls ensued between AXA and the FA over the weekend, with the governing body threatening legal action due to the potentially defamatory charge of having acted "unprofessionally". They argued that a sponsors briefing this summer had warned of potential changes ahead, and that there had been frequent Press reports on the subject before the insurance firm were officially notified last week.
This led to today's statement by AXA, which read: "Following the announcement by the FA on September 28th, AXA has confirmed the commencement of constructive discussions with the FA about the new 'FA Partners' sponsorship programme.
"AXA regrets there was a mutual breakdown in the communication and consultation process last Thursday and it withdraws the assertion that the FA had acted unprofessionally.
PA