GENEVA (AP) – Budweiser beer company AB InBev is ending Heineken’s 30-year run as official beer sponsor of soccer’s Champions League with a new beer sponsorship deal for the competition. Global distributor Relevant.
UC3, a joint venture between Champions League organizers UEFA and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), has announced that exclusive negotiations will begin with AB InBev for a six-year contract starting in 2027. European soccer clubs are becoming more and more influential (EFC) Group.
UC3 said in a statement that the potential deal is global and would cover all UEFA men’s club competitions over six seasons. He’s probably worth close to 200 million euros ($232 million) each season.
“Our selection by UC3 reflects our commitment to football and our mega-platform strategy,” AB InBev said in a statement. “We look forward to being a great partner to UC3 for many years to come.”
This is the first major deal planned by Relevent since it was chosen this year by the EFC Group and UEFA to increase the value of commercial contracts and increase prize money for the hundreds of clubs participating in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League each season.
The goal is a total revenue of at least 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) every season from 2027. The current total revenue is at least 4.4 billion euros ($5.1 billion), which will pay around 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) into a prize fund shared by the Champions League’s 36 teams.
AB InBev’s Champions League deal will add soccer’s most important club competition to its long-standing World Cup partnership with FIFA. Three Olympics to negotiate with IOC It began in Paris last year and will continue until the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
The Heineken beer brand has had exclusive rights to the Champions League since 1994, with the Dutch beer maker’s latest renewal deadline expiring in 2027. It had close ties to UEFA’s long-standing Swiss-based distributor Team Marketing, but was dropped in favor of Lilevent.
The influential club group rebranded this month as the EFC wanted a more dynamic commercial program and Relevent was known to be pushing for higher value deals that helped pay more to clubs.
Still, Heineken has a reputation as one of the most lucrative deals in the Champions League, likely paying more than 100 million euros ($115 million) per season.
Removing Heineken from the competition would appear to send a clear message to other long-term supporters of the Champions League, including Sony, PepsiCo and Mastercard.
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