Champions League swaps one of its biggest sponsors as £870m masterplan evolves

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The Champions League is one of sport’s richest institutions.

After staging the most lucrative World Cup in history, for context, FIFA is projecting revenues over its current four-year cycle of about £11.5bn. Last season alone, UEFA’s revenue was around $6bn. And over the next four years, it will likely be hoping to push the £22.5bn mark.

The lion’s share of its income comes from selling the media and sponsorship rights for the Champions League.

As of 2024-25, the Champions League became a 36-team competition, with a new Swiss system format seeing the total number of matches per season increase from 125 to 189.

As well as providing clubs with extra matchday income and an insurance option against dropping out of the competition early, that has also given UEFA more inventory to sell in terms of media and sponsorships.

European football’s governing body operates under a tiered sponsorship system, with 10 designated ‘official global sponsors’: Heineken, PlayStation, Lay’s, FedEx, Mastercard, Crypto.com, Bet365, Just Eat, Qatar Airways and Adidas.

Together, those partners, coupled with the more junior sponsors and licensing/merchandise sales, generated income of £870m in total. But ahead of 2026-27, there will be one significant change.

Hyundai replace Just Eat as Champions League sponsor

The Champions League proper for 2026-27 begins in September, with Paris Saint-Germain looking to defend their crown and win the competition for a record-equalling third time in a row.

By the time of the first match day, Hyundai will have been announced as a new sponsor for the competition, replacing Just Eat, as reported by respected industry outlet SportBusiness.

The financial terms of the deal are not known, but top-tier sponsorship can cost in excess of the equivalent of £75m per season.

SportBusiness report that, as well coming in to sponsor the Champions League for 2026-27, Korean car manufacturer Hyundai will also pay for the rights to partner with UEFA for the four-year rights cycle beginning in 2027-28.