Heineken Hosts Biggest UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour in Africa
11.5.2022 09:59:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
In its continuing effort to bring the UEFA Champions League (UCL) experience closer to more football fans around the world, Heineken has staged its most elaborate Trophy Tour in Africa yet. The 10-day tour, which ended on April 13 in Abuja, Nigeria, ahead of the 2022 final match on May 28, included several public events that featured the UCL trophy at major stops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Fans from Rwanda and Congo Brazzaville also attended the tour in Nigeria and DRC respectively.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220509006222/en/
Clarence Seedorf on tour with the UEFA Champions League trophy in Ethiopia, as part of the pan-African tour, courtesy of Heineken.
The events around the tour included open-truck city parades, novelty matches with local celebrities, UCL quarter final match viewings, fan meet and greets, photo sessions, media rounds, Afrobeats concerts, and visits to government ministries in charge of football.
Heineken, sold in 192 countries around the world, has been a sponsor of the UEFA Champions League since 2005 and the company’s leadership said its Africa-wide trophy tour for the 2021/2022 season was structured to reach 50,000 Africans directly while an estimated 10 million more are reached via media coverage.
A highlight of the trophy tour was a Heineken-sponsored football match in Lagos, Nigeria. It pitted Nigerian music superstars and football legends against senior staff of Nigerian Breweries, which is the local Heineken brewer, and the Trophy Tour Ambassador, professional coach and former Dutch international midfielder, Clarence Seedorf.
BET Awards-winning Afrobeats star Davido captained Team Nigeria, which had ex-Nigerian internationals Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Daniel Amokachi, and Taribo West. Also on the squad were rapper M.I. Abaga, R&B singer Darey, and Nigerian Breweries Marketing Director, Emmanuel Oriakhi. Seedorf led Team Heineken, playing, among others, Nigerian Breweries Finance Director, Rob Kleinjan; and the company’s Supply Chain Director, Martin Kochl.
The novelty match preceded an Afrobeats concert that was headlined by African superstar, Davido and Peruzzi, another topflight Nigerian singer. Members of the Heineken management team and Seedorf then met with the Nigerian Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, at the MKO Abiola stadium in Abuja, the country’s capital.
The Union of European Football Associations, the umbrella organisation for 55 national football associations across Europe, organizes the Champions League as an annual competition among top-division football clubs. The 2022 final match is slated for May 28 at the Stade de France in Paris.
“The goal of the Trophy Tour is to inspire a new generation of African footballers and appreciate fans for their love of the UEFA Champions League and Heineken,” said Heineken’s Senior Global Director, Bram Westerbrink.
The continent’s importance to the growth of football and the UCL is evident, Bram also noted. Several European clubs in the English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German leagues have notable African following, with many of the fans organising meetups and celebrations when their favourite teams record tournament successes. With more than 100 Africans currently playing professionally, over 25 Champions League winners from Africa, and about 300 million African fans, football has taken hold as the most popular sport on the continent.
“This is why Heineken is proud to celebrate its association with the UEFA Champions League,” said Hans Erik Tuijt, Director, Global Heineken Sponsorships, adding that Heineken has the highest awareness on the continent as a sponsor of the UEFA Champions League.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220509006222/en/
Contact information
Enitan Kehinde
Enitan@bhmng.uk
+447899410249
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Philips and Imricor Launch Cardiac Interventional MR Lab Solution, Expanding Longstanding Collaboration27.8.2026 22:27:00 EEST | Press release
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and Imricor Medical Systems (ASX: IMR), a pioneer and world-leading developer of MR-compatible products for interventional MR procedures, today announced a new Interventional MR (iMR) lab solution for Philips 1.5T MR. The first commercially available configuration* combines Philips’ 1.5T MRI platform and Imricor's portfolio of iMR systems and consumables, enabling an MR-guided workflow for cardiac intervention, without compromising on MR field strength. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827693715/en/ Meeting the need for greater tissue insight during cardiac intervention Cardiac arrhythmias affect millions of people worldwide, and catheter ablation is an established and increasingly utilized treatment for many complex cardiac arrhythmias. Yet today, these procedures continue to rely primarily on X-ray fluoroscopy, which provides only
Xsolla Launches Game Biz Institute, an Editorial Platform Where Industry Practitioners Explain the Business of Games27.8.2026 18:32:00 EEST | Press release
Xsolla, a global commerce company, today announced the launch of Game Biz Institute (GBI), an editorial platform where named industry practitioners and researchers examine the commercial layer of games: direct-to-player distribution, payments, monetization, user acquisition, and retention. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827362663/en/ Graphic: Xsolla Game design has a curriculum. The business of games does not. Engines, pipelines, production, and narrative are taught at hundreds of universities, while the commercial machinery that determines whether good work becomes a durable company is still learned through expensive trial and error, usually after the decisions that mattered have already been made. GBI was built to close that gap by publishing what practitioners have actually learned running these businesses. "Game developers have never had more data and less clarity," said Chris Hewish, President of Xsol
Star Wars Zero Company™ Now Available On PC, PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series Consoles27.8.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Electronic Arts Inc. and Bit Reactor, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, announced today that Star Wars Zero Company™, a single-player turn-based tactics game set in the twilight of the Clone Wars™, is now available for PC via the EA app, Steam, and Epic Games Store, and PlayStation®5 and XBOX Series consoles. In Star Wars Zero Company, former Republic officer Hawks and Zero Company, an elite squad of unconventional professionals for hire, are recruited for an operation by Republic Intelligence. From ex-nobles to ex-cons, they now share one mission: Stop the Infinite Coil, a Separatist-aligned cult, and their leader Kundri Fathom before the deadly Shadow Plague consumes the galaxy. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827012810/en/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=7SYogg8ILAD3tUG3&v=AxAgeglgSeA&feature=youtu.be “After all these years of hard work from our amazing team, Star Wars Zero Company is a go for laun
Rehlko Joins Wisconsin Data Center Coalition as Newest Energy Resilience Member, Reinforcing Its Role at the Center of AI and Digital Infrastructure Growth27.8.2026 16:15:00 EEST | Press release
Rehlko, a global industrial energy resilience platform providing custom-engineered, integrated power solutions for mission-critical infrastructure worldwide, today announced it has joined the Wisconsin Data Center Coalition (WIDCC) as the organization's newest energy resilience member. The membership reflects Rehlko's commitment to advancing Wisconsin's role as a leader in responsible AI infrastructure development, built on reliable and scalable power. Rapid growth in hyperscale and enterprise data center investment is reshaping markets across the world, and Rehlko is building the power infrastructure that makes it possible. Sitting at the intersection of the structural forces driving AI infrastructure expansion, grid reliability, and accelerating electrification, Rehlko brings more than a century of engineering depth and lifecycle capability to the table. WIDCC brings together stakeholders from across Wisconsin's technology, utility, economic development, workforce development, govern
GenNx360 Capital Partners Closes Fourth Flagship Fund at $865 Million27.8.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release
GenNx360 Capital Partners (“GenNx360” or “the Firm”), a New York City-based private equity firm investing in U.S. lower middle market industrial services and business services companies, today announced the successful closing of GenNx360 Capital Partners IV, L.P. (“Fund IV” or “the Fund”), with $865 million in commitments, exceeding its target. Fund IV is the largest fund raised in GenNx360’s history. Fund IV was supported by a diverse group of existing and new investors including leading pensions, asset managers, insurance companies, foundations, and family offices, reflecting conviction in the firm’s disciplined investment approach, operational value creation model, and tenured, diverse team. Fund IV will continue GenNx360’s differentiated strategy of partnering with lower middle market founders and management teams to scale essential services businesses. Fund IV has made five investments to date across infrastructure services, testing and inspection services, aerospace and defense,
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom