Feb 6, 2014

  • Tire manufacturer is already an Official Sponsor of UEFA EURO 2016™ in France; new agreement significantly expands company's UEFA rights portfolio
  • Rights also include the UEFA Under 21 Championship ™ 2015 and 2017, UEFA Women's EURO ™ 2017 and UEFA Futsal EURO ™ 2014 and 2016
  • Continental continues to focus on football as a strategic communications platform 

Hanover, February 6, 2014.
Tire manufacturer Continental is already an Official Sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil and UEFA EURO 2016™ in France. Now the Hanover-based company has acquired a further extensive rights package - running until 2017 - from European football's governing body UEFA. The agreement secures Continental a wide-reaching promotional presence including touchline advertising at European Qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2016™ and the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ in Russia and a presence on the official website for the European Qualifiers on www.UEFA.com . Continental will also enjoy a significant rights package at the UEFA Under 21 Championship™ 2015 and 2017, UEFA Women's EURO™ 2017 and UEFA Futsal EURO™ 2014 and 2016 tournaments.

"This move sees us extending our commitment to 2017 as we continue to focus squarely on football as a strategic communications platform for our premium brand Continental," explains Nikolai Setzer, Continental Executive Board Member responsible for the Tire Division. "Our ongoing promotional presence at major football tournaments - from the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany and UEFA EURO 2008™ in Austria and Switzerland to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil - has already taken us a long way in terms of raising international awareness of the brand. And we are keen to continue this success on the road to the next two major tournaments in France and Russia and further strengthen the emotional bond between our brand and Europe's best footballers." Continental is one of the leading tire manufacturers in Europe. Indeed, around one in three new vehicles in the passenger car, 4x4 and van segments now rolls off the assembly line on premium tires from Continental.

"It is fantastic that Continental have chosen to endorse UEFA's newly centralised European Qualifiers platform. As a long-standing partner of the UEFA European Championship™, this rights package provides an ideal bridge for the company to firmly establish itself across European national team football. By also coming on board as sponsor of our other national team tournaments - Under-21, Women's & Futsal EUROs - we can now look forward to working with Continental throughout the four year cycle and providing them with a strong platform to promote their brand and engage with their target audience," Marketing Director UEFA Events S.A, Guy-Laurent Epstein said.

Through the new "week of football" concept, qualification games will be spread over several days, giving fans the opportunity to watch more matches than ever before. This in turn will give Continental a highly visible TV presence across the European Qualifiers; largely through pitch-side advertising at away games of the leading European nations such as England, France, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey. It also covers home and away games of teams including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

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