Nike stay as Juventus sponsor despite relegation

MILAN, Aug 3 (Reuters) US sportswear group Nike will still sponsor Juventus despite the club being demoted to Italian football's second division, a Nike spokesman said today.

Juventus' main sponsors -- Nike and Libya's Tamoil -- have been expected to renegotiate their contracts with the club after it was relegated for seeking an unfair advantage in the appointment of referees.

''We sponsor and we will continue to sponsor Juventus,'' the spokesman said. Nike has a 12-year sponsorship contract, for 12 million euros (15.36 million dollars) a year, which started in 2003.

However, the spokesman declined to comment on whether the terms would be renegotiated. Tamoil has not commented on its deal with Juventus.

At 0956 GMT, shares in Juventus were up 7.8 percent at 1.82 euros. The stock has been extremely volatile, and shares have lost about one-fifth of their value since the scandal broke, recovering slightly over the past weeks.

Juventus potentially faces years of financial problems, with sponsorship income, television rights deals and ticket sales hit by the scandal over rigged matches.

The club was stripped of its last two Italian league titles and there has been an exodus of top players.

Italy's World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, midfielders Emerson and Patrick Vieira, plus defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta have all left.

REUTERS DH PM1710