Europe

Through the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, Deliveroo teamed up with Leeds United to increase the volume of restaurant partnerships within the greater Leeds area and drive mass market awareness amongst English football fans.

Ahead of the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup, adidas launched its new Sweden shirt with an initiative that saw back-of-shirt numbers replaced by images of female role models.

In 2020-21, eToro leveraged its multiple European club soccer sponsorships to build brand awareness and promote its CopyTrader function.

In Q1 2016, smartphone brand Wiko supported SD Eibar in a community health campaign that saw the letters corresponding to the main blood types removed from the players’ shirts.

Swedish state betting firm Svenska Spel, the main sponsor of the Swedish national team, activated its rights around the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France by having the team’s stars call supporters at home.

Faced with a Covid-enforced shutdown of Irish rugby in spring 2020, Irish Rugby Football Union sponsor Energia pivoted activation of its title sponsorship of the All-Ireland League Awards to an online campaign and ceremony.

In 2020-21 – a season likely to play out largely behind closed doors – Europe’s top four football leagues held sponsorship agreements of about €315m ($383m) in contract value.

In early 2019, retailer Intersport activated its partnership with Bundesliga side Hoffenheim through an initiative that auctioned player-worn kit to raise funds for children’s charity SOS-Kinderdorf.

Through 2019 and 2020, Volkswagen leveraged its football partnerships – led by its official mobility partnership with the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) – through a centralised European content hub called ‘We Drive Football’.

Europe’s most powerful football associations – of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – hold sponsorship portfolios worth about €392.6m ($472.6m) in the 2020-21 season. Of

BT abruptly pivoted its activations to digital after the pandemic struck just a month after it launched a new, five-year ‘4-3-3’ Home Nations soccer sponsorship strategy in February 2020.

In April 2020, eleven Spanish football clubs joined sponsor CaixaBank’s cause campaign, supporting food banks to meet the rising need during the Covid-19 lockdown crisis.

In summer 2016, for Under Armour’s first St. Pauli kit, supplier and club worked with agency Nordpol on a campaign that spanned social, PR and at-stadium strands and was led by an online film focused on a redesigned players tunnel.

Chinese smartphone brand Oppo’s campaign around the 2020 French Open spanned online and on-site initiatives to promote the 5G Find X2 Pro handset, primarily targeting young adults.

Suzuki’s 2018-19 activation of its Torino shirt front deal was inspired by the increasing popularity of dating apps.