By AFPMore by this AuthorBERLINGermany's top automaker Volkswagen will from 2019 replace its luxury-range competitor Mercedes-Benz as the top sponsor of the national football team, the company and sports body said Friday. The advertising marriage of VW and "Die Mannschaft", as Germans call their team, starts on January 1, 2019 and runs until July 31, 2024. No financial details were released, but German media said Wolfsburg-based VW would pay the German Football Association DFB 25 million to 30 million euros ($28-34 million) a year, far more than Daimler has paid. "Volkswagen and the number one national sport — that's a great partnership," said Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, pledging that it was committed to "all German football, with its 25,000 clubs and seven million members (of the federation)". Meanwhile, Stuttgart-based Daimler has also been accused of having manipulated the engines of around one million diesel vehicles.

Source: Daily Nation July 14, 2017 13:18 UTC