Nissan confirmed a four-year global partnership with the UEFA Champions League including the UEFA Super Cup in what is the carmaker’s largest ever sponsorship deal. The partnership will begin from 2014/2015 and will end with the 2017/2018 season. No financial terms were revealed, but sports marketing analysts estimate UEFA’s latest sponsorship packages cost more than $75 million a year.
“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. Both are created by amazing people who have a passion for what they do,” said Roel de Vries, Corporate Vice President and Global Head of Marketing and Communications for Nissan.
As an official partner, Nissan will have extensive rights to the matches, pre-match training sessions, content, media, hospitality, events and the Final. The deal is expected to bring Nissan to new audiences as the UEFA Champions League reaches over 4 billion TV viewers a season.
“European growth is important to Nissan, and in UEFA we feel we have found the perfect partner to help us achieve our business goal of becoming the #1 Asian car manufacturer in Europe by 2016,” said Bastien Schupp, vice president, Marketing, Nissan Europe.
Nissan has to overtake Toyota and Hyundai in order to become the best-selling Asian brand in Europe. Ford announced last month that it was ending its sponsorship of the tournament, with the company’s final event as sponsor being the Champions League final in Lisbon on May 24.
By John Halas
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