London  - The Football Association confirmed on Wednesday that they are looking for a new sponsor for the FA Cup after E. ON revealed they will not renew their deal at the end of the season.

The energy giant explained they had taken the decision because of changes to their sponsorship strategy.

Their four-year deal is believed to have been worth around 32 million pounds (51.8 million dollars).

A FA spokesman said: "The FA can confirm that E. ON's sponsorship of the FA Cup will come to a close at the end of the current 2009/10 season.

"The FA would like to thank E. ON for its investment into and support of the competition to date. We now look forward to taking the FA Cup sponsorship opportunity to the open market for the 2010/14 period."

The FA is yet to sell the television rights to this season's competition following the collapse of the previous rights-holders, Setanta. (dpa)