Optimal Payments Becomes Official Shirt Sponsor of Crystal Palace Football Club

Company signs two-year agreement with Barclays Premier League team

LONDON, MONTREAL and NEW YORK, July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Optimal Payments Plc (LSE AIM: OPAY), a leading global online payments provider, announced today that it has become the official sponsor of Crystal Palace Football Club for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140704/124528)

Optimal Payments will use the platform to raise the global awareness of its award-winning NETELLER® service and Net+® Card stored-value offering which will be displayed on the front of the team's shirts from the start of the 2014/15 English Premier League season. The first game will see Crystal Palace take on Arsenal on August 16, 2014 at The Emirates Stadium, London.

NETELLER will be the first Premier League sponsor within the online payments space and will provide the brand the right synergy to achieve NETELLER'S marketing and commercial objectives quickly and cost effectively. Specifically, it will support customer and merchant objectives delivering rapid multi-market brand awareness, big brand credibility and driving sign-up and conversion rates in NETELLER's key growth markets - including Asia, Africa and the Americas. Today, Optimal Payments processes approximately $15 billion USD annually in more than 200 countries and territories with over 100 types of payment and multi-currency options.

Joel Leonoff, president and CEO of Optimal Payments, said: "We are delighted to be the official sponsor of Crystal Palace and recognize similarities between our two organizations in terms of recent great performance and growth ambitions for the future. The Premier League attracts the highest global viewership in international sports, with an estimated global audience of 4.4 billion. This sponsorship signifies an opportunity to support one of the league's most exciting teams while promoting our innovative payment solutions worldwide."

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish said: "We are thrilled to have NETELLER on board and really excited at the prospect of working with them on the growth of its online payments business. As soon as we met the team they felt like the right partner for us and it was important for the vision of our Club to work with an exciting, multi-market consumer brand. Both Crystal Palace and Optimal Payments have experienced tremendous growth over the last few years and I feel confident we can help each other to continue that path."

The deal's commercial potential is driven by the global passion for the Premier League; including live coverage by 80 international broadcasters televised action across 212 territories worldwide, inspiring billions of pages of editorial and dominating social media debate worldwide on a weekly basis between July and May every year.

Lorenzo Pellegrino, executive vice-president - NETELLER said "The chance to partner NETELLER with the global reach of the Premier League is massively exciting in its own right, but what's also important is the ability to work with merchant partners already operating in the Premier League space. This partnership gives NETELLER the platform to promote our services on a whole new level; putting it alongside major global brands like Barclays; Nike; Emirates; Samsung and General Motors."

The partnership was negotiated by sports marketing agency, SportQuake who will also assist in managing and delivering the global sponsorship campaign. SportQuake are sport marketing experts who specialize in helping consumer brands and rights owners to deliver commercial and cultural value through sport. In 2014 SportQuake has already completed over 100 football partnership deals including major transactions with all 20 EPL clubs.

About Crystal Palace Football Club 

Crystal Palace FC will again take their place in the Premier League for the 2014/15 season. The club play at Selhurst Park Stadium and its extremely loyal support are widely renowned for generating the best atmosphere in the Barclays Premier League. Crystal Palace is the only south London-based Premier League club and prides itself on being a true community asset. Having a rich 109-year history, the club regularly finds local youngsters to play in its first team, developing their footballing skills through both its youth academy and one of the finest community schemes in the country. The club's manager, Tony Pulis, was voted Premier League Manager of the Year by the League Managers Association at the end of the 2013/14 season, while its fans were also voted the best in the country.

The outstanding progress made both on and off the pitch has caught the imagination of both the people who support the club and those involved in the business of football, with the club now benefitting from an army of followers around the world.

For further information on Crystal Palace FC, visit www.cpfc.co.uk. Twitter: @CPFC. Facebook: facebook.com/officialcpfc

About Optimal Payments Plc 

Optimal Payments is a global provider of online payment solutions, trusted by businesses and consumers in over 200 countries and territories to move and manage billions of dollars each year. Merchants use the NETBANX® platform and services to simplify how they accept credit and debit card, direct-from-bank, and alternative and local payments; and the NETELLER® service to increase revenues and capture new customers. Consumers use the multilingual and multicurrency NETELLER and Net+® Card stored-value offering to make secure and convenient payments. Optimal Payments Plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM, with a ticker symbol of OPAY. Subsidiary company Optimal Payments Ltd is authorized and regulated as an e-money issuer by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 900015).

For more information on Optimal Payments visit www.optimalpayments.com or subscribe at http://www.optimalpayments.com/media/email-alerts.

SOURCE Optimal Payments Plc