SoftCo, the leading global Finance Automation Software provider, today announced the extension of its main sponsorship agreement for the Ireland Women’s Hockey team up until at least 2021. The partnership with Hockey Ireland will incorporate the 2019 European Championships and the team’s qualification campaign to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
SoftCo, who are involved with grassroots hockey for 15 years, were delighted to support the Green Army during the recent World Cup in London where the team defied the odds to become the first Irish Senior team to reach the final of a World Cup, in any field sport. These achievements were recognized recently as the silver medal winning team and manager, Graham Shaw, were announced as 2018 Team and Coach of the Year at the RTE Sports Awards.
Preparations for the Tokyo 2020 qualifying campaign will begin with a competitive match series in Santiago, Chile in January. In June 2019, the team will be part of an eight-team FIH Hockey Series Finals event in Dublin with two teams progressing to a head-to-head Olympic qualification event in October/November 2019.
Commenting on the announcement, Jerome Pels, CEO, Hockey Ireland said:
“SoftCo’s support of the Green Army was of real benefit in the immediate run up to the World Cup and at the tournament against the best teams in the world. We are now looking to build on that success with the immediate goal being qualification for the Olympics. We are delighted to once again have SoftCo’s support during an extremely important time for the team”.
Commenting on the announcement, Susan Spence, Co-Founder, SoftCo said:
“We were so proud of the team in their run to the World Cup final during the summer. An Irish team achieving success on the world stage was a true inspiration to us all. This is a further significant investment to assist the team to reach its ambitious goals. We are delighted to be extending our support”.
