Uefa has suspended Gazprom’s sponsorship activation rights, including perimeter board advertising, for upcoming Champions League matches, with further definitive action under consideration.
The move comes in the wake of Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine and its almost universal condemnation by countries from Europe and the rest of the world.
Our correspondence understands that European football’s governing body and its lawyers have also been examining the legalities of a full termination of the Russian state-owned gas company’s contract.
The decision to terminate would be made Uefa itself rather than Team, Uefa’s marketing agency for club competitions.
Gazprom’s contract for the Champions League sponsorship was thought to be worth about €40m ($45m) per season in Uefa’s 2018-2021 commercial cycle. Gazprom’s expanded deal for the 2021-2024 cycle is worth even more, including as it does national team competition rights for the men’s Euro 2020 and 2024 and the Nations League Finals in 2021 and 2023.
The suspension of Gazprom’s Champion League rights follows Uefa’s decision to remove St Petersburg as the event host for this season’s men’s Champions League final. The match was to have been played in the Gazprom Arena, home to Russian Premier League club Zenit St Petersburg, which is also owned by Gazprom. The final will now be played at the Stade de France in Paris.
Uefa confirmed at an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee on Friday that there would be “other meetings of the ExCo soon where additional matters will be addressed”.
Experts believe that Uefa was always likely to take action against Gazprom after last week’s tumultuous events, not least because of the negative impact Gazprom’s continued inclusion would have had on the seven other Champions League sponsors: Heineken, PlayStation, Lay’s, Mastercard, FedEx, Just Eat Takeaway.com and Expedia.
Although none have commented directly on Gazprom’s ejection – temporary or otherwise – brands have taken increasingly strong positions on values-related issues in recent years.
Speaking to our correspondence in December, Benjamin Blanco, global sponsorship lead at Heineken, said: “Sport has become a lens for cultural topics, so we’re also looking to make a stand on events that cannot be planned. In recent years, we’ve gone through Brexit in the UK, Trump in the US and Covid-19, things that have changed the dial – and then there was COP26.”
Blanco added: “These things only amplify the brand agenda. It’s become important to stay relevant and engage with consumers and how they expect the brand to behave.”
Uefa is not the only sports organisation to remove sponsorship rights from Gazprom. Last week, German 2. Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04 has decided to strip the Gazprom logo from its main sponsorship position on the team’s shirtfronts.
The club said in a statement: “In view of the events, development and escalation of the past few days, FC Schalke 04 has decided to remove the lettering of its main sponsor – ‘Gazprom’ – from the jerseys.
“This step follows discussions with [subsidiary] Gazprom Germania. Instead, ‘Schalke 04’ will be on the chest of the Königsblauen [Royal Blues].”
Meanwhile, Premier League club Manchester United has cancelled its sponsorship agreement with another major Russian company, the airline Aeroflot, which is majority-owned by the Russian state.
