Sports sponsorship

Owner and general sponsor

Nornickel sponsors the first, youth, and junior teams of the club. In 2023, CSKA celebrated its 100th anniversary and 20 years of collaboration with Nornickel. Throughout these two decades, the club has made it to the EuroLeague Final Four 17 times, winning the championship four times.

In the reporting year, a friendly match was held between the teams of Nornickel’s Polar Division with the participation of CSKA players. With the support of the Company, CSKA presented a book titled People and Legends dedicated to the club’s 100th anniversary.

Official partner of the Federation and the general partner of the Red Machine national ice‑hockey development programme

Nornickel has been partnering with the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia since 2018. One of our joint focus areas is the development of children’s and youth hockey across Russian regions.

In 2023, the fifth anniversary edition of the Red Machine hockey festival was held in the Murmansk Region, an annual training camp was organised in Zapolyarny, and the Sirius Educational Centre implemented an intensive ice hockey programme.

Owner and general sponsor

In 2023, the northernmost professional hockey club in the world was founded in Norilsk. The team made their debut in the 2023/2024 season of the All‑Russian Hockey League (VHL) and achieved a notable milestone by qualifying for the VHL playoffs.

General partner

The Company participates in several large‑scale projects aimed at the development and promotion of amateur hockey. Each year, the number of teams and participants in the Night Hockey League continues to grow. With Nornickel’s involvement, new ice rinks are constructed annually.

In 2023, Norilsk hosted the sixth charity match with legends of hockey, featuring the participation of 15 Olympic champions. The match raised RUB 6 mln to support and develop children’s hockey in Norilsk, and young athletes benefitted from master classes conducted during the event.

The National Amateur Ice Hockey Teams’ Festival held in the Sirius Federal Territory (Sochi) is a traditional event organised by the NHL Foundation.

Owner and general sponsor

Norilsk Nickel Futsal Club is a professional sports club. In 2023, the club celebrated its 30th anniversary and has been improving its performance every year: the 2022/2023 season of the national championship saw the club secure silver medals, while in the two preceding seasons the team won bronze medals. The club reached the quarter‑finals of the Russian Cup in 2021–2023.

Partner

Nornickel has been a steadfast supporter of the Russian Futsal Association for over eight years. A major element of the partnership between the Company and the association is the Futsal to Polar Schools national project, which brings together 129 schools and more than 11,000 participants from the Krasnoyarsk and Trans-Baikal territories, as well as the Murmansk Region. The project promotes a comprehensive approach to holding futsal tournaments among schoolchildren by making futsal part of extracurricular physical education and recreational sport programmes of educational institutions. It also seeks to provide participants with material and technical support while also offering training courses for physical education teachers to improve their qualifications.

Partner

Nornickel and the Russian Football Union (RFU) signed a cooperation agreement for 2021–2023, with the Company becoming a partner to the RFU’s development programmes. The agreement entails the implementation of joint projects aimed at developing children’s and youth football, as well as promoting and popularising this sport. In 2023, the twentieth corporate futsal tournament of Nornickel and a Football Festival in the Murmansk Region were successfully held as part of this partnership.

Partner

In 2023, Nornickel and the Russian Chess Federation signed a partnership agreement, designating the Company as the general partner for broadcasting the final match of the 2023 World Chess Championship in Russia.

Partner

The partnership between the Russian Rowing Federation and Nornickel was established in 2018. In 2023, the Company took on the role of being the title sponsor for the Vladivostok International Regatta in Academic Rowing held during the 2023 Eastern Economic Forum.

Partner

In 2023, the Nornickel Curling Cup 2023, an international curling tournament for mixed doubles, took place for the seventh consecutive year at the Taimyr Ice Arena in Dudinka. The event was supported by Nornickel and involved the participation of the Russian Curling Federation. It featured mixed doubles teams from Kazakhstan, Serbia, Belarus, and Russia. Alongside the tournament, there were special master classes conducted by Olympic champions, as well as junior competitions held as part of the Junior Nornickel Curling Cup.

Partner

The Company contributes to the development of children’s sports, including through its support of I’m a Champion Sports Academy, which boasts 5,000 students. Since 2022, Nornickel has been supporting the academy in organising the Multileague for Preschoolers, the Regional Football Festival, School Cups, the Alexander Tarkhanov Tournament, and a “World Cup” for schoolchildren