Soccer world is perhaps the biggest among most of contemporary sports and that is why some of the biggest corporate houses fight to have a share of its worldwide reach. Championship league which is the biggest European club’s annual event has now changed its automobile partner when they signed Japanese giant Nissan in place of Ford. According to some media reports, Ford intentionally ended its long running partnership with UEFA after negotiation talks failed recently while some close insiders are causing it by a lucrative bid placed in by the Japanese manufacture and UEFA had to choose it over American sponsor. According to the latest agreement, Nissan will be the official partner of Championship league along with UEFA Super Cup for four years starting from 2014-15 to 2017-18. However, the amount involved in it is not officially disclosed by anyone, but some insiders have claimed that Nissan would pay somewhere around $75 million per season to the European governing body to have an access to over four billion audience and Nissan marketing team is counting on their skills to encash this exposure for its new range of products for European and north American markets.
Nissan is unarguably the second biggest Japanese automobile brand after Toyota and if it decides to extend the deal further, as contract allows, rival German and American manufacturers would have to find even bigger platform to showcase their products. UEFA expressed their pleasure of having a renowned brand as sponsor for next four seasons; Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director of UEFA, shared his exaggeration to have Nissan with them and said, “We are delighted to have Nissan as an official partner of the UEFA Champions League as of next season. Nissan is a truly leading global company and is one of the largest automotive groups in the world. We feel that the partnership will provide a great deal of innovation and excitement across all markets worldwide, and we are convinced that Nissan can use the platform that the UEFA Champions League offers to further build on their current success.”
Similarly, Nissan corporate affairs team also stated it as the biggest opportunity to lead over its competitors especially on European circuit. Roel de Vries, Corporate Vice President and Global Head of Marketing and Communications for Nissan, said, “Innovating to excite is what Nissan does, and as partners with UEFA we are looking to introduce new ways in which to enrich the UEFA Champions League experience.
“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.”