MasterCard renews sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League and continues rewarding football fans with priceless experiences

Stockholm, 13 February 2012 - MasterCard today announced its renewal as an official partner of the UEFA Champions League for the new cycle 2012-2015.

The 2010/2011 UEFA Champions League Tournament was followed by 1.1 billion football enthusiasts around the world.  Through MasterCard’s unique sponsorship promotions people in over 60 countries were given the chance to connect to one of the most exciting and popular sporting events of the year.

For the new cycle, MasterCard will place renewed focus on the fans, offering multiple ways for the tournament’s followers to benefit from its involvement as a sponsor. This ranges from the unique cardholder offers made available on the UEFA Champions League MasterCard webshop through to priceless experiences designed and delivered especially by MasterCard.

In the last two years, thousands of fans experienced their own ‘priceless’ moment of sporting history, which included parents getting the chance to see their child accompany a sporting hero onto the pitch, or winning exclusive access for their child at special pre-match practices. MasterCard further enhanced the experiences by creating joint promotions with other UEFA Champions League Tournament co-sponsors, showing the power of partnerships within sponsorship where fans can benefit from multiple sponsors at the same time.

New for this cycle, MasterCard will offer bigger and better UEFA Champions League experiences directly for fans with a link to those cities hosting the matches. Cardholders living or visiting these locations around Europe will be able to have direct access to the greatest club tournament and participate in history being made.

Finally, UEFA Champions League fans are urged to keep an eye on MasterCard’s dedicated social media sites (http://www.facebook.com/witnesshistory) for news, updates, and interesting insights from experts as well as opportunities to win fantastic prizes.

Commenting on the announcement, David Taylor, CEO of UEFA Events SA, said:

"We are very pleased to continue our relationship with MasterCard, one of the world’s premier global brands. The presence and active involvement of MasterCard has contributed to the great success of the UEFA Champions League – and will do so for the next three seasons. In return we expect to keep helping MasterCard create many priceless opportunities for millions of fans and cardholders worldwide.”

Javier Perez, President of MasterCard Europe, said:

“We are delighted to announce the renewal of MasterCard’s UEFA Champions League sponsorship and are proud that we will continue to offer “priceless” experiences to everyone through this partnership. Last season alone saw bank and merchant promotions in over 60 countries and this announcement ensures we can continue to reward existing and potential customers in new and innovative ways.”

Notes to Editors

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Contact:
Jacob Lund                         +46 8 440 12 15                                                             jacob.lund@bm.com