Calcutta/London: Formula One team Force India’s owner Vijay Mallya is expanding his football interest outside India and is on the verge of inking a shirt sponsorship deal with English Championship club Queens Park Rangers, according to media reports. After Manchester City, QPR are already the second richest club in England and Mallya’s cash injection will make them even wealthier.

Mallya, who sponsors Calcutta giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, is close to agreeing a five-year $35 million deal to advertise his Kingfisher beer on the players’ shirts, and a naming rights deal for the Loftus Road stadium, to be named after Mallya’s Kingfisher brand, the Daily Mail reported. The deal is said to be close to completion and could be announced as early as next week. But the five-year agreement could also include the naming rights of a stadium where QPR first played in 1917. The report added that it was only recently that Briatore is even said to have considered renaming the club — to Queens Park City — in order to emphasise its position in the capital.

Bought in August last year by F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and Renault’s Flavio Briatore, Mallya would be the third Formula One luminary to be associated with the West London club.