The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has entered into a multi-year partnership with German tyre manufacturer Continental.
As part of the deal, Continental has been named an official sponsor of the 2019 Asian Cup national team tournament, which will be staged in the United Arab Emirates.
The company will also sponsor the 12 best-qualified teams at the tournament, as well as the 2018 Women’s Asian Cup, the final round of qualifiers for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia and the 2018 AFC U22 Championship, which will serve as a qualifier for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Nikolai Setzer, member of the executive board of Continental responsible for the tyre division, said: “The AFC Asian Cup is the most important football competition in the APAC region and the Middle East, where we are looking to grow our market share in the next few years. To support this growth we are keen to actively promote our premium brand and position it in the perception of car drivers as a possible alternative in the car tyre segment.
“We also expect the media coverage of the qualifiers for the 2018 Fifa World Cup and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to be particularly extensive in both regions and are therefore assuming that we will achieve a marked increase in awareness of our premium Continental brand by 2020.”
AFC acting general secretary Dato’ Windsor John added: “The partnership with Continental underlines the growing importance and attraction of football in Asia and in particular our exciting and successful flagship competitions – the Asian Cup and the Women’s Asian Cup as well as the under 22 competition. Continental has a long and distinguished history in football and we thank them for their commitment to the AFC as this signifies another important milestone in our continued development of both the sport and our commercial portfolio in Asia.”
The deal with the AFC adds to Continental’s extensive portfolio of football partnerships. The company already has sponsorship deals with Uefa Euro 2016, the European section of qualification for the 2018 Fifa World Cup and the North American Major League Soccer club competition.
Lagardère Sports, the AFC’s exclusive marketing and commercial partner, brokered the deal.