In a brilliant bit of marketing synergy, Spain’s La Liga has leveraged its new double-L logo to find the perfect sponsorship opportunity.
The Spanish league announced earlier this week that its logo would appear on the kits of Clwb Pêl Droed Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Football Club — or CPD Llanfairpwll FC for short — this season. The club plays in Division One of the North Wales Coast West League, the fifth tier of the Welsh football pyramid.
The partnership makes sense as there are three instances of double-Ls in the name of the town the club represents, and even four Ls in a row at one point.
As part of the sponsorship, La Liga has also paid for a new sign welcoming visitors to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, with the league logo replacing each instance of double-Ls.
The club’s home kits are blue with black stripes and the club crest in the middle of the chest, while their away kits are white with a light grey collar. They’re manufactured by Puma, who also supply match balls for La Liga.
“We’ve got a great group here who are really committed to bringing success to the club,” CPD Llanfairpwll FC manager Gwyndaf Hughes told the BBC. “This new partnership with La Liga brings further professionalism to our side, and I know the lads can’t wait to wear the new kit with pride from this Saturday and throughout the season.”
“Not only is it the most exciting collaboration the club has ever had, but it also allows us to improve both on and off the field,” added CPD Llanfairpwll FC chair Samantha Jones-Smith. “Securing a front of shirt partner of this level is of vital importance, and with La Liga’s long-standing history of footballing excellence, we have a fantastic partner to join us on our journey.”
CPD Llanfairpwll FC will have the La Liga logo on their shirts for the first time this Saturday when they take on rivals Holyhead Town.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a village on the isle of Anglesey, off the northwest coast of Wales. It was originally called Pwllgwyngyll, but was renamed in 1869 as a bit of a publicity stunt to have the longest railway station name in all of Great Britain. In Welsh, it means “The Llan of Saint Mary in a hollow of white hazel near the rapid whirlpool of the church of Saint Tysilio with a red cave.”
At 58 letters, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest place name in the United Kingdom and the longest name for a settlement in the world, but not the longest place name in the world. That distinction belongs to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a hill in North Island, New Zealand. It’s 85 letters long and in the Māori language, it means: “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one.”
For a lesson on how to pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, let’s turn it over to Liam Dutton, a meteorologist with Channel 4 in the UK: