By Mark Baber
July 2 – The UEFA sponsorship train continues to roll as MasterCard announced a three year extension of its high-profile and long-standing sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League.
The renewal includes sponsorship of the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Women’s Champions League final and the UEFA Youth League finals. The agreement will also see MasterCard continue as the Official Provider of UEFA Champions League player mascots. No figure has been put on the deal but it is reckoned to be about £200 million per year.
The new deal will last until 2018 – by which time MasterCard’s partnership with UEFA will have been in place for 24 years.
Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing Officer at MasterCard, said: “We are very proud and excited to renew our sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, a long-standing partnership dating back to 1994. During this time we’ve seen countless priceless moments on the pitch and the passion of the fans has continued to grow around the world for this great competition.
“Association with key sporting events is an important way that MasterCard can directly connect fans and people around the world to the priceless possibilities associated with their passions. We look forward to another three seasons of supporting Europe’s premier club competition along with the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Women’s Champions League final and UEFA Youth League finals.”
Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director of UEFA Events SA, commented: “We are very pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with MasterCard, who have been an active supporter of the competition since 1994. Having a global and trusted company like MasterCard as a UEFA Champions League sponsor is a great asset, and we are delighted to have them on board. Through their extensive activations on a global level, MasterCard will continue to play an integral role in bringing the UEFA Champions League closer to fans.”
The new deal, negotiated by TEAM Marketing, will be especially pleasing for UEFA, confirming the FIFA corruption scandal leaves the confederation’s commercial sponsorships intact coming, as it does, hard on the heels of deals with PepsiCo, Enterprise Rent-a-car and Unicredit.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734976506labto1734976506ofdlr1734976506owedi1734976506sni@r1734976506ebab.1734976506kram1734976506