UniCredit expands Uefa deal to include Champions and Europa League

Commercial bank UniCredit this (Friday) afternoon struck a deal with Uefa, football’s European governing body, to remain an official partner of the Champions League and become a new partner of the Europa League secondary club competition.

The deal with Uefa will run for three seasons of both tournaments, from 2015-16 to 2017-18.

Following the announcement this afternoon, UniCredit is now the official bank of all six Uefa club competitions, including the annual Super Cup season-opener, the Women’s Champions League, the Futsal Cup finals and the Youth League.

In a statement, UniCredit said that the expanded partnership would allow the bank, which is based in Milan, Italy to further strengthen its position in eastern European markets.

“UniCredit has been one of our sponsors for six years now, and we are delighted that we were able to agree on the extension of this partnership,” Uefa marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein said. “Their renewed and extended support and contribution, particularly in the promotion of our competitions across Eastern Europe, is highly valued.”

UniCredit chief executive Federico Ghizzoni added: “More than 300 Uefa Champions League-related campaigns initiated across our group show the appreciation of our markets and divisions for this sponsorship. Having effectively established our brand, the augmented rights package allows us to shift our focus to support the daily business and empowering the local brands.”

UniCredit joins Heineken, Nissan and Sony as the fourth official partner of the Champions League for the next three-year cycle, alongside Adidas, which is the official supplier. The Europa League partner portfolio includes main sponsor FedEx and official supplier Adidas.