PlayStation extends Champions League relationship

PlayStation’s long-running sponsorship of football’s Uefa Champions League has been renewed.

The extension will cover the three seasons from 2018-19 to 2020-21, prolonging a relationship with Sony Interactive Entertainment that began in 1997.

The agreement with the Team Marketing agency on behalf of Uefa, football’s European governing body, also grants PlayStation rights for the Super Cup, Youth League and Futsal Champions League.

As part of the agreement, PlayStation will work with Uefa to deliver “exciting content and competitions to fans across the PlayStation network and digital-media channels”, with a focus on virtual reality innovations and the opportunity to play in a video game competition on the pitch the day after the Champions League final.

PlayStation will also launch new versions of the Uefa Champions League Fantasy and Predictor games, alongside the official Uefa Champions League app.

“Our long-term partnerships with experienced industry leaders such as PlayStation are invaluable to Uefa in promoting our competitions globally, and in particular in the digital space, so we are looking forward to continuing our relationship as we enter a new Uefa Champions League cycle,” said Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of Uefa Events.

Seven other partners had already signed up for the tournament’s next three-year cycle, with Heineken, Nissan, PepsiCo, Mastercard, Gazprom and Adidas renewing, while Santander joined as a new partner.

This season’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid will take place tomorrow (Saturday) in Kiev.