European soccer’s governing body UEFA has extended its major commercial deal with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the technology heavyweight behind the PlayStation brand that is a UEFA Champions League (UCL) club competition sponsor.
Through a tie-up unveiled today, PlayStation is set to retain its role as a UCL sponsor for the next commercial cycle, which stretches across the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 seasons.
Next season’s UCL will see more teams involved and more matches played, through changes to the competition’s format. The deal also encompasses the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Youth League, and the UEFA Futsal Champions League.
PlayStation will continue as the presenting sponsor for the player of match awards, as well as for the UCL Fantasy Football game, and the eChampions League esports competition. It will also maintain brand exposure across perimeter LED advertising hoardings, media interview backdrops, and broadcast sponsorship.
In addition, there will continue to be “exclusive on-site activation opportunities” for SIE, at events such as the UEFA Champions Festival before the UCL final.
This deal adds to SIE’s separate women’s soccer partnership with UEFA, stretching past the Women’s European Championships in 2025, and also covering the Women’s Champions League.
In total, Sony and UEFA have been partners for the last 27 years.
PlayStation joins the list of brands to have signed up as specific UCL sponsors for the next three campaigns, with that number also including Heineken, Lay’s, FedEx, and Mastercard.
The last deal between SIE and UEFA was unveiled in July 2021 and covered the 2021-24 cycle. GlobalData has estimated the value of this deal as being worth $180 million over the three seasons.
From the 2024-25 season, the Champions League will take on a new single-league format, with the competition expanding from 32 to 36 teams, and incorporating 189 matches instead of the current 125.
