In a three year deal, The Manchester United striker, who scored a hat-trick to secure the Red Devils’ 20th Premier League title on Monday, will spearhead the BT advertising line up, alongside Gareth Bale.
Van Persie, 29, has scored 24 Premier League goals for Manchester United this season and has been so pivotal to the title victory that rival manager Roberto Mancini has claimed that his failure to sign the Dutch forward for Manchester City in the summer cost him the title.
Van Persie will star in TV adverts and feature on billboards and other marketing when BT Sport launches its push to sign up subscribers. BT Sport will show 38 exclusively live Premier League games for three seasons from August 2013, including 18 of the top pick matches.
BT Sport has also secured the rights to live top tier matches from Serie A in Italy, Ligue 1 in France, Brasileiro in Brazil and Major League Soccer in the USA. And BT’s acquisition of ESPN’s TV channels business in the UK and Ireland will bring the rights to show live games for the FA Cup, Scottish Premier League, Europa League and the German Bundesliga.
Robin van Persie said: “I am thrilled to be joining BT Sport as one of the faces of their advertising. It has been great fun filming the adverts and shooting the posters and I know fans will be seeing some amazing footage and pictures when the adverts start to appear.”
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have signed a star of Robin’s calibre to be in our advertising. There are few current players that have had such an incredible run of form in the Premier League over the last couple of seasons. For BT Sport, Robin is one of the players that embody the dynamism and skill that we are going to be showcasing with our live coverage, so we could not have signed a more powerful figure.”