“Fortis no longer on Anderlecht shirts”

Anderlecht boss Roger Vanden Stock has said that the club intends to look for a new main sponsor. Bank and insurer Fortis, their current sponsor, was partly nationalised and taken over by the French bank BNP Paribas due to severe financial problems.

Fortis (or the Generale Bank until the nineties) has been Anderlecht’s main sponsor since 1981, but after 27 years, there is to be a parting of the ways.

The current contract runs until June 2009. Anderlecht and Fortis had started negotiations about a new deal, but due to the financial crisis talks were suspended.

Anderlecht is one of Belgium’s most renowned clubs. Chairman Roger Vanden Stock now says "the club will no longer have Fortis on its shirts in future."

The name of Fortis is no longer enjoying a good reputation  and could harm the club’s image, Vanden Stock claims: "Fortis has become a synonym for losers."

(flandersnews.be/Expatica)