The Uefa Champions League: Heineken Sponsorhip
Introduction: The UEFA Champions League is a European football tournament that is held every year across Europe. With over 300 million television viewers, the league’s final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. For an event of this magnitude, the stakes for everyone involved are very high (appendix 1). This essay includes a short description of the tournament along with an overview of the stakeholders, followed by an analysis of one of the sponsors, Heineken.
Description: UEFA has been organizing the Champions league since 1955, although it changed format in 1992. Since 1992, the competition is divided into several parts; it begins in mid-July with three knockout-qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams join 22 already seeded teams in the group stage, in which there are eight groups with four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout phase, which ends with the final match in May. There is no particular host country as most of the games held throughout the tournament are played in either one of the contenders’ countries. However, it is decided beforehand which city is hosting the next Champions League final. In 2012, it took place at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Overview of the stakeholders: The main stakeholders are the different football clubs taking part in this event. The participants may vary from one year to another, but there are very precise criteria to be part of this event; first of all, the teams have to be part of the European continental geographic area (appendix 3). Secondly, to ensure quality football, the contenders have to be at least part of the top four teams of their respective national leagues. Furthermore, the ratio of teams selected per nation is not solely based on national league success; only the top team of every national league has a guaranteed spot as one of the 22 teams already qualified for the group stage. The
Description: UEFA has been organizing the Champions league since 1955, although it changed format in 1992. Since 1992, the competition is divided into several parts; it begins in mid-July with three knockout-qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams join 22 already seeded teams in the group stage, in which there are eight groups with four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout phase, which ends with the final match in May. There is no particular host country as most of the games held throughout the tournament are played in either one of the contenders’ countries. However, it is decided beforehand which city is hosting the next Champions League final. In 2012, it took place at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Overview of the stakeholders: The main stakeholders are the different football clubs taking part in this event. The participants may vary from one year to another, but there are very precise criteria to be part of this event; first of all, the teams have to be part of the European continental geographic area (appendix 3). Secondly, to ensure quality football, the contenders have to be at least part of the top four teams of their respective national leagues. Furthermore, the ratio of teams selected per nation is not solely based on national league success; only the top team of every national league has a guaranteed spot as one of the 22 teams already qualified for the group stage. The
References: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/stakeholders/index.html Thompson, Craig; Magnus, Ems (February 2003)