Following are the companies and organisations that serve as the Official Global Sponsors to the UEFA Champions League (UCL) — the premium club-football offering of European football’s governing body UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) — and enjoy a strong branding presence across its physical and digital assets.
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Heineken
The Amsterdam-headquartered Dutch brewery giant has been an official sponsor of the UCL since 1994. The current deal between Heineken and UEFA will see the former sponsor the UCL until 2024.
Apart from branding rights, the deal also entails exclusive UCL content-creation and events for Heineken.
PlayStation
The Sony Interactive Entertainment-owned video game console family has been an official sponsor of the UCL since 1997. In July 2021, UEFA announced that it had renewed its partnership with PlayStation to cover its 2021-24 cycle, with the sponsorship rights covering not only the UCL but also “the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Youth League and UEFA Futsal Champions League in 2021, 2022 and 2023”.
Apart from branding rights that see the latest iteration of the console family (currently, the PlayStation 5) promoted across UCL assets, the partnership entails PlayStation serving as the official presenter for the Player of the Match and Player of the Week awards for UCL matches. PlayStation also supports “the UEFA Champions League Gaming Hub with the enhanced UCL Fantasy and Predictor games”.
Lay’s
Owned by Harrison, New York-headquartered American multinational food giant PepsiCo, potato chips brand Lay’s serves as an Official UCL Global Sponsor via PepsiCo’s partnership with UEFA, which has existed since 2015. The PepsiCo-UEFA partnership has seen PepsiCo’s big-name brands Pepsi, Lay’s and Gatorade feature frequently across UCL assets.
In August 2020, PepsiCo signed a multi-year deal with UEFA focused specifically on women’s football, which sees the former support women’s football by serving as a main partner to the UEFA Women’s Champions League and UEFA Women’s EURO in a deal running until 2025.
Later that year, in December 2020, PepsiCo agreed a three-year deal with UEFA to continue its sponsorship of the UCL until the end of the 2023-24 season, with the UEFA press release also specifying that the two parties will be “working together to deliver increasingly sustainable events, reducing plastic waste and recycling”.
In February 2022, Rockstar Energy, an energy drink brand that PepsiCo acquired in 2020, was announced as a sponsor of UEFA for its men’s and women’s Champions Leagues on a three-year deal, with the partnership also entailing “game ticket giveaways” apart from branding rights.
Via Lay’s, PepsiCo has worked with UEFA over multiple community initiatives: from star-studded ad campaigns promoting equality and inclusivity in football to building football pitches at refugee camps in Jordan in association with the UEFA Foundation for Children, a UEFA charity arm.
Mastercard
The Harrison, New York-headquartered American multinational financial services provider has been a UCL sponsor since 1994, providing unique fan experiences opportunities — the most prominent of which is the Player Mascot programme — as well as working with the UEFA Foundation for Children over social initiatives.
UEFA last announced the renewal of Mastercard’s UCL sponsorship in October 2020 in a deal covering the 2021-24 cycle and also including sponsorship rights for the UEFA Super Cup in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
FedEx
The Memphis, Tennessee-based American shipping giant was announced as a UCL sponsor in May 2021 in a three-year deal starting with the 2021-22 season and running until the end of the 2023-24 season. The deal also included sponsorship rights for the UEFA Super Cup, the UEFA Youth League finals, the UEFA Futsal Champions League finals and the UEFA eChampions League.
FedEx has enjoyed a long, fruitful association with UEFA. It first partnered up with the European football-governing body in 2015 as a main sponsor of the UEFA Europa League. In 2019, it became a sponsor of UEFA National Team Football in a four-year deal, earning sponsorship rights for UEFA EURO 2020—for which it also served as the Official Logistics Partner—and the UEFA Nations League finals.
Since 2016, FedEx has also been working with the UEFA Foundation for Children over community projects, most prominent of which have been delivering safe community football fields in Spain, Poland, Brazil, and South Africa, a “Football for Employability” programme benefitting young adults in Romania, Hungary, England and Ireland, and a player mascot programme for local children to feature at the Europa League finals in collaboration with non-profit organisations in Stockholm, Lyon and Baku.
As a UCL sponsor, FedEx also provides the FedEx Performance Zone: a dedicated portal that serves as an exhaustive trove of detailed stats for all teams and players featuring in the Champions League.
Just Eat Takeaway.com
The London-headquartered food delivery service originally partnered with UEFA as the Official Food Delivery Platform Partner of UEFA EURO 2020 in November 2019. Later, in March 2021, Just Eat Takeaway.com had its partnership expanded with UEFA in a new deal covering 11 of the European governing body’s competitions:
- the UEFA Champions League,
- the UEFA Europa League,
- the UEFA Europa Conference League,
- the UEFA Super Cup,
- the UEFA Futsal Champions League,
- the UEFA Youth League,
- the UEFA Women’s Champions League,
- UEFA Women’s EURO,
- UEFA Women’s Futsal EURO,
- the European Women’s U19 Championships, and
- the European Women’s U17 Championships.
The March 2021 agreement sees Just Eat Takeaway.com sponsor UEFA men’s competitions between 2021 and 2024, while as far as its women’s competitions are concerned, Just Eat Takeaway.com sponsors them as a UEFA Women’s Football partner in a deal set to run until 2025. It also partners with UEFA’s Together #WePlayStrong initiative, which focuses on encouraging young girls and women to play football.
Expedia Group
Seattle-based Expedia Group signed a three-season deal with UEFA in August 2018, which saw its travel brand Expedia and accommodations brand Hotels.com become official sponsors of the Champions League, with Expedia Group earning the title of the league’s Official Travel Partner. Running until the end of the 2020-21 season, this deal also covered the UEFA Super Cup, the UEFA Youth League finals and the UEFA Futsal Champions League finals.
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