Editing Mazda (section)

== Sponsorships ==
[[File:Mazda head office 2008.JPG|thumb|Mazda's headquarters in Fuchū, Hiroshima]]

Mazda is a major sponsor to several professional sports teams, including:

*Hometown teams:
**[[Sanfrecce Hiroshima]] ([[J. League]]): Originally known as Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club and founded in 1938, it was owned directly by Mazda until 1992 when Mazda reduced its share to professionalize the club for the new J. League.
**[[Hiroshima Toyo Carp]] ([[Nippon Professional Baseball]]): The "Toyo" part of the team's name is in honor of Mazda's part-ownership of the team since 1968 (when Mazda was still known as Toyo Kogyo). The Matsuda family, descended from the founder of Mazda, holds the majority share in team ownership.
*Teams abroad:
**[[North Melbourne Football Club]] ([[Australian Football League]])
**[[AS Roma]] ([[Serie A]])
**[[ACF Fiorentina]] ([[Serie A]])
**[[SK Sigma Olomouc]] ([[Czech First League]])
**[[Nakhon Ratchasima F.C.|Nakhon Ratchasima]] ([[Thai League 1]])

The company also sponsors various [[marathon]] and [[relay race]] events in Japan, such as the [[Hiroshima International Peace Marathon]] and the [[Hiroshima Prefectural Ekiden Race]], along with numerous other sporting and charity endeavors in [[Hiroshima]] and [[Hofu]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mazda.com/csr/social/07-01.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917084109/http://www.mazda.com/csr/social/07-01.html|url-status=dead|title=MAZDA:Basic Idea on Community and Social Contributions &#124; With Communities and Society|archivedate=September 17, 2008}}</ref> Mazda was also the league sponsor for the now-defunct [[Australian Rugby Championship]].

Mazda maintained sponsorship of the [[Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca|Laguna Seca]] racing course in California from 2001 until February 2018,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Maury |title=After 17 Years, Mazda Dropping Naming Rights To Laguna Seca Raceway |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2018/02/15/after-17-years-mazda-dropping-naming-rights-to-laguna-seca-raceway/ |access-date=August 9, 2022 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> going so far as to use it for its own automotive testing purposes as well as the numerous racing events (including several Mazda-specific series) that it used to host, as well as for the 2003 launch of the [[Mazda RX-8]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.laguna-seca.com/sponsors/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041231093839/http://www.laguna-seca.com/Sponsors/ | publisher = Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca | title = Track Sponsors | archive-date = December 31, 2004 }}</ref> Since April 2018, the venue's primary corporate sponsor is [[WeatherTech]].

Mazda also sponsors the [[Western New York Flash]], a professional women's soccer team that plays in the [[Women's Professional Soccer|WPA]] and has some of the best players in the world, including world player of the year.<ref>[[Marta Vieira da Silva]]</ref>

Mazda has been a sponsor of [[Club Deportivo Universidad Católica (sports club)#Branches|Club Deportivo Universidad Católica]]'s basketball team of the [[Liga Nacional de Básquetbol de Chile]].<ref>[https://eldeportero.cl/universidad-catolica-presento-cinco-refuerzos-para-la-liga-nacional-de-basquetbol-2016-2017/ Universidad Católica presento cinco refuerzos para la Liga Nacional de Básquetbol 2016-2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803213340/https://eldeportero.cl/universidad-catolica-presento-cinco-refuerzos-para-la-liga-nacional-de-basquetbol-2016-2017/ |date=August 3, 2020 }} El Deportero, September 30, 2016. Accessed April 8, 2020. {{in lang|es}}</ref>