Japanese automotive firm Nissan has signed a four-year global partnership with the Uefa Champions League club football competition.
Nissan said the agreement, which includes rights to the Uefa Super Cup competition, represents the company’s largest ever sponsorship deal. The agreement with European football’s governing body Uefa will establish Nissan as an official partner worldwide from the 2014-15 season through the 2017-18 campaign.
“Innovating to excite is what Nissan does, and as partners with Uefa we are looking to introduce new ways in which to enrich the Uefa Champions League experience,” Roel de Vries, corporate vice-president and global head of marketing and communications for Nissan, said. “Europe's most prestigious football competition will be an important global platform for Nissan, and our aim is to show fans all over the world the excitement of both football and our cars.”
Nissan will step into the top-tier sponsorship slot vacated by US rival Ford, which announced last month that it would conclude its long-running partnership with the Champions League at the end of this season’s tournament. Ford has sponsored the Champions League since it commenced as a re-branded version of the European Cup in 1992-93.
Heineken, the world’s third largest brewer, in October extended its sponsorship of the Champions League in a three-year deal, from 2015-16 to 2017-18. Heineken, which replaced its Amstel brand with its main brand as a sponsor of the Champions League in 2005, was the first sponsor to commit to the tournament beyond the current 2012 to 2015 cycle.
Along with Ford and Heineken, current sponsors of the Champions League are Gazprom, MasterCard, Sony PlayStation and UniCredit.