Heineken renews sponsorship of Champions League, Europa League

Dutch brewing company Heineken has extended its sponsorship of the Uefa Champions League and Europa League European club football competitions.

The three-year agreement covers the 2018-19 to 2020-21 seasons and also includes the 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions of the Uefa Super Cup, which is contested by the previous season’s Champions League and Europa League winners.

Heineken first partnered with European governing body Uefa in 1994 and has since placed the top-tier Champions League at the heart of its marketing campaigns. Heineken began its backing of the second-tier Europa League in 2015 through its Amstel brand.

“Having such an experienced partner is invaluable to Uefa, and reinforces our efforts to continuously improve and promote our club competitions on a global level,” Guy-Laurent Epstein, Uefa Events marketing director, said. “The fact that Heineken renewed at an early stage in the process illustrates the continued strength of UEFA’s sponsorship platforms.”

Following the conclusion of the deal, Heineken’s head of global sponsorship, Hans Erik Tuijt, spoke of his wish to see Champions League and Europa League matches return to free-to-air television in the UK.

Pay-television broadcaster BT Sport currently holds exclusive rights in the country through a deal covering the 2015-16 to 2017-18 seasons. Rival pay-television broadcaster Sky, along with commercial broadcaster ITV, had previously held rights and Tuijt believes free-to-air coverage is essential if the competitions are to “remain relevant”.

“I believe one game at least should be on public television,” he told the Bloomberg news agency. “Access to all the other games you can buy. I am a big advocate to get solid reach, otherwise you won’t remain relevant.”

Tuijt did not reveal terms of Heineken’s new deal with Uefa, but said that the financial commitment was bigger than the two parties’ previous agreement. In a statement, Tuijt said the Uefa deal compliments Heineken’s other long-standing partnership platforms – Formula One, the Rugby World Cup and the James Bond movie franchise.

The extension marks the start of the 2018-21 sponsorship sales process for Uefa’s club competitions. The worldwide sales for all Uefa club competitions is being carried out by the Team Marketing agency, which is now marketing rights in the financial services and automobile categories for the Champions League.