May 22 – The Champions League final will kick off for the 18th consecutive final using an adidas ball this Saturday. It will continue to do so for the next three years after adidas renewed their sponsorship for another three seasons.
Adidas began their sponsorship in 2001 and join Heineken, Nissan, PepsiCo, Mastercard and Gazprom in renewing for the new 2018-21 cycle. Santander are a new sponsor for this cycle.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Events SA Marketing Director, said: “Adidas has been a valued partner of the UEFA Champions League since we joined forces in 2001, and we are delighted that we will be continuing our relationship for another three seasons. Not only is adidas a leader in its field, it also has an extensive heritage in football, so we look forward to continuing our relationship as we enter a new UEFA Champions League cycle.”
Designated as the Official Match Ball Supplier, the agreement also covers the right to supply the Official Match Balls for the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Youth League and UEFA Futsal Champions League between 2018 and 2021.
UEFA says the Champions League is the world’s most watched annual sporting event with a cumulative TV audience of 3.7 billion per season. The Liverpool vs Real Madrid final in Kiev this weekend will be broadcast in more than 200 countries with an estimated reach of 350 million.
UEFA’s partner TEAM Marketing is currently finalising sponsorship for the next cycle of the Champions League and Europa League.
Last week, before the Europa League final, UEFA announced Hankook Tire as the fifth Official Partner of the UEFA Europa League for the 2018–21 commercial cycle, following the renewals of Amstel and Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. Kia Motors.
This is one competition where Adidas does not dominate. Japanese manufacturer Molten Corporation has signed a three-year agreement last October to become the official match ball supplier for the Europa League. Molten also recently became the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) official ball supplier.
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