August 29 – UEFA have secured one of their long-standing partners, South Korean car manufacturer Kia Motors, as an Official Partner for the UEFA Europa League for three seasons from the start of the 2018/19 championship through to the UEFA Europa League final in 2021.
Kia Motors has been a UEFA partner for several years, sponsoring Euro 2012 and Euro 2016 and becomes the second company, after Amstel, to sign up for the 2018-21 cycle. Current Europa League partners include FedEx, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, UniCredit and Hankook Tire.
The car manufacturer will work with UEFA to create the first UEFA Europa League Trophy Tour which will give fans across the world the chance to see the trophy and meet some of the legends of the European game.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events SA, said: “We have a strong relationship already with Kia Motors and look forward to further enhancing this partnership within the UEFA Europa League.
“We will work together to build fan engagement across Europe and beyond and we are thrilled to create the first global Trophy Tour, allowing fans around the world to meet legends of the competition and see the trophy in their own country. With a brand such as Kia within our partner programme, we see the UEFA Europa League going from strength-to-strength and anticipate an exciting three years working together.”
Kia Motors, together with the closely linked Hyundai, considers football sponsorships as a core element of its marketing strategy and also sponsors the FIFA World Cup, the Copa America, the Slovakian and Philippines national teams, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Toronto FC and Boston United (of the English National League).
Tae Hyun (Thomas) Oh, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Kia Motors Corporation, said: “We are incredibly excited to continue to work with UEFA in sharing the values, commitment and passion for the sport of football. This partnership provides us with an opportunity to increase Kia’s global brand awareness further, while engaging with a huge audience of global football fans. The UEFA Europa League is one of the most competitive global football tournaments and provides the brand with an exciting platform from which to connect with existing Kia customers and prospective buyers around the world.”
The UEFA Europa League involves clubs from 55 national associations and attracts a global cumulative TV audience of 980 million across all programming making it the world’s largest professional club football competition, according to UEFA.
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