Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines has performed an astonishing u-turn by announcing a deal to become a top-tier sponsor of the Uefa Champions League European club football tournament only to then deny that an agreement had been finalised.
Turkish Airlines yesterday (Tuesday) said that the deal would run for three seasons, from 2015-16 to 2017-18, in a statement released to the Istanbul stock exchange.
The statement read: “In order to increase Turkish Airlines brand recognition our incorporation has decided to sponsor one of the world’s most prestigious leagues, Uefa Champions League, for a period of three years as ‘The Official Airline Sponsor of Uefa Champions League’.”
However, shortly after releasing this news, the company backtracked on its claims that a deal had been signed with another statement to the stock exchange.
The statement read: “An agreement has not been signed between the parties regarding the Uefa Champions League sponsorship, negotiations will start following the board’s referenced decision.”
The Champions League currently has six top-tier official sponsors – UniCredit, MasterCard, Gazprom, PlayStation, Nissan and Heineken.