Crypto.com is now sponsoring the UEFA Champions League, the firms announced Wednesday, with the popular European soccer competition serving as the latest addition to the crypto exchange’s long list of sports alliances.
The multi-year global sponsorship will include in-stadium activations and broadcast integrations, as well as a series of advertising campaigns. Crypto.com and the Champions League said in a statement that they aim to drive fan engagement through the activities.
“This exclusive partnership with one of… the most popular leagues in the world, the UEFA Champions League, represents a significant step in our journey of engaging consumers,” Crypto.com Chief Marketing Officer Steven Kalifowitz said Wednesday in a statement.
The Champions League is an annual club competition that includes some of the world’s most prominent soccer teams, including Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, and Juventus. Crypto.com said that it is the league's first "global crypto platform partner."
The Crypto.com branding will be unveiled at the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday, according to Crypto.com’s press release. Crypto.com declined to comment on the deal’s valuation and its length. The company also declined to provide more details about its plans for in-stadium activations.
Crypto.com's Champions League deal marks the latest sports sponsorship for the firm. In 2021, the crypto exchange struck a 20-year deal worth $200 million to secure naming rights for the Los Angeles Lakers’ home stadium in California. The firm also sponsors UFC and Formula 1, among several other sports leagues, according to its website.
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX launched in 2019 and soared to a $32 billion valuation in just three years—now the rocket ride is ending in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Along the way, the company—flush with trading fee revenue from the mainstream crypto boom during the pandemic—spent big on sports marketing deals to raise customer awareness.
In the second half of 2021 alone, FTX and/or FTX US signed deals with the NBA's Miami Heat (stadium naming rights), Major League Baseball (as the official crypto...
Sponsorships of sporting leagues and teams by crypto firms accelerated sharply in 2021 and 2022, driven by the big spending of exchange FTX. But following FTX’s collapse in late 2022, and amid a prolonged crypto bear market, such alliances appeared to cool. There’s been a rise in new crypto-sports sponsorship deals so far in 2024, however.
Last month, Kraken said in a statement that it had become the official crypto sponsor of Tottenham Hotspur, a UK-based football club. Meanwhile, Austria-based crypto exchange Bitpanda unveiled on Wednesday a long-term partnership with Italian football club AC Milan.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
