November 29 – Spain’s Banco Santander will join UEFA’s Champions League roster of sponsors from next season in a three-year deal, one of the first announcements of sponsors for the next cycle of deal being closed by TEAM Marketing.
Banco Santander is the first new sponsor for UEFA for the next three-year cycle. Heineken and Nissan have already renewed their deals. The bank’s sponsorship will also cover the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Youth League Finals and the newly formed UEFA Futsal Champions League Finals, but not the Europa League.
Although new to the Champions League, Banco Santander is not new to sponsoring regional football having been a sponsor of South America’s Copa Libertadores since 2008, a deal it renewed in 2016. No figure has been announced for either deal.
Banco Santander executive chairman, Ana Botín, said: “Santander’s partnership with the UEFA Champions League, the world’s most global and aspirational sporting competition, builds on our support of Libertadores and, more recently, Racing Santander, the local football team of the Cantabrian city where our bank was founded 160 years ago. We love sport … We will continue our support of sport because it is a valuable way to contribute to the prosperity of the communities where we work.”
Banco Santander was founded in 1857 and has 131 million customers worldwide, the bulk being in 10 core countries in Europe and the Americas.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Events SA marketing director, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Santander into the UEFA Champions League sponsor family and are excited to partner with one of the most distinguished and forward-thinking banks globally. There is natural fit between the UEFA Champions League and Santander, with the bank being consistently recognised within the best global brands and, of course, with the UEFA Champions League Final remaining the most watched annual sporting event on the planet. Santander has a great heritage in sport and this partnership will allow the UEFA Champions League to further engage with football fans in Latin America and around the world.”
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