Herzogenaurach/Nyon, September 21, 2009 – adidas and UEFA today announced the extension of their long-term partnership for UEFA EURO 2012™ and UEFA EURO 2016™, along with all other national team competitions in the period from 2010 to 2017 under UEFA’s EUROTOP banner.
Under the term of the new contract, adidas will continue to be the supplier of the Official Match Balls for all of the above mentioned tournaments. adidas will also continue to equip staff, officials, referees, volunteers and ball kids for all the national team competitions in Europe during the period.
Herbert Hainer, CEO and Chairman of the adidas Group said: “adidas has been a clear winner of UEFA EURO 2008™ and we are looking forward to continuing this success story with the long-term extension of our contract with UEFA for one of the biggest sports events in the world. The history of adidas as a strong partner of UEFA goes back more than three decades and will continue to be an important pillar in our strategy to expand our global market leadership in football in the future.”
Commenting on the announcement, UEFA General Secretary, David Taylor, said:
“It is significant that the first UEFA EURO 2012™ partnership agreement we are able to announce is with adidas. UEFA is all about football and the beautiful game is also at the core of adidas’ business. They are the leading football brand in the sporting goods category, and beyond their promotional activities, they will also be providing top-level support to all our events and courses, through the provision of official match balls and other sporting goods and apparel. “
“UEFA EURO is a hugely valuable and attractive event for sponsors to be associated with, and, with further agreements due to be announced before the end of the year, we are confident of completing the global sponsorship programme by the summer of 2010”, David Taylor continued.
In addition to UEFA EURO 2012™ and UEFA EURO 2016™, the UEFA EUROTOP agreement also includes a relationship with UEFA over all the national team competitions, including major tournaments such as the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017) and the UEFA European Women’s Championship 2013 and 2017, and numerous education courses for coaches and referees through to the end of 2017.
adidas has supplied the Official Match Balls to all major UEFA tournaments since 1972, and has also been the Official Supplier of the match ball for all UEFA Champions League games since 2006. The adidas Finale ball has been used for the UEFA Champions League Final since the 2000/2001 season. Starting from the 2009/10 season, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup are played with adidas balls as well. Since 2008, adidas has also been the Official Supplier of the match ball for the African Cup of Nations organized by the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF).