Business Wire

Heineken Hosts Biggest UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour in Africa

11.5.2022 09:59:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share

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/

To view this piece of content from mms.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

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.

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

Ant International and Bank Partners Achieve Real-Time Cross-Bank Liquidity Management through Tokenised Deposits via CeBM under HKMA’s Ensemble TX3.11.2026 06:10:00 EET | Press release

Following the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) announcement on interbank settlement of tokenised deposit transactions under EnsembleTX, Ant International announced that it has achieved real-time cross-bank liquidity management with its key banking partners as part of its active participation in EnsembleTX. In close collaboration with Bank of China (Hong Kong) (“BOCHK”, SEHK: 2388), China Construction Bank (Asia) (“CCB (Asia)”) and HSBC (SEHK: 5), Ant International successfully completed a series of live HKD interbank transactions between September and October 2026: BOCHK interbank transactions with CCB (Asia) CCB (Asia) interbank transactions HSBC interbank transactions Executed using tokenised deposit settled through the HKMA’s Central Bank Money (CeBM), the transfers were initiated via Ant International’s proprietary blockchain-based wholesale settlement platform, WhaleRTP. The transactions were near-instant, moving seamlessly from payment instruction to final receipt within fiv

SuperElastic* Material Unveiled by Angelalign2.11.2026 19:46:00 EET | Press release

Angelalign Technology Inc. (6699.HK) (“Angel”)http://www.angelaligner.com, a global clear aligner leader, today unveiled SuperElastic (MC-SE*), a new propietary aligner material that is a significant breakthrough in performance over its current material. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261102654659/en/ Specialists in orthodontics have long asked for new aligner materials that enable better treatment for complex cases: biologically safe force levels, a large elastic working range, and strength and toughness. MC-SE* provides all of them. “Angel is commited to innovation and never settling for 'good enough'. MC-SE* is the result of seven years of materials research, testing and manufacturing optimization. The new material aims to create a new generation of aligner material that allows orthodonists to differentiate their treatment from other treatments,“ said Fox Hu, CEO of Angel. MC-SE will be available globally

Galderma Announces Proposed Board Appointments and Chief Financial Officer Transition2.11.2026 19:00:00 EET | Press release

Galderma Group AG (SIX:GALD), the pure-play dermatology category leader, today announced proposed changes to its Board of Directors, aimed at further strengthening its governance and supporting its long-term growth. The company also announced that Luigi La Corte, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), has decided to leave Galderma to pursue a significant new opportunity. Luigi La Corte will continue to fulfil his responsibilities as CFO during the transition period, supporting business continuity and a smooth handover. The company will communicate further details regarding succession arrangements and the transition timeline in due course. The Board of Directors is proposing the election of Rosalind Brewer and Petra Rumpf as new Board members. Both candidates bring extensive leadership and governance experience, alongside expertise spanning consumer-facing businesses, healthcare, medtech and life sciences. As Galderma advances its ambition to become the undisputed dermatology powerhouse, spanni

Donaldson Introduces Alpha-Pore™ Technology Platform for Extended Sterile Filtration Performance2.11.2026 16:35:00 EET | Press release

Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE: DCI), a leading worldwide manufacturer of innovative filtration products and solutions, today announced Alpha‑Pore™ technology, a next generation sterile filtration platform engineered to extend filter service life while maintaining critical process performance. Built for critical applications, Alpha‑Pore technology enables longer filter run time compared with competitive single- and dual-layer polyethersulfone (PES) membrane filters, while maintaining flow characteristics, sterility assurance, and process integrity.* The platform is designed to help manufacturers improve operational efficiency through fewer changeouts and more consistent performance over time. Engineered for Extended Performance Sterile filtration processes often require balancing run time with key performance parameters such as flow, differential pressure, and contaminant retention. Alpha‑Pore technology is designed to achieve all three. By optimizing pore structure and filter architect

Smartly Launches Intelligence Pro to Connect Campaign Planning, Performance and Incrementality2.11.2026 16:00:00 EET | Press release

Smartly, the AI-powered advertising technology company, today launched Intelligence Pro, a premium offering that brings together four capabilities to help marketers plan investment, understand true incrementality and determine where to spend their next dollar. Intelligence Pro connects causal inference models with planning tools to help marketers prove business impact and make faster decisions from increasingly complex data. “Marketing teams are inundated with data, but the challenge is identifying what signals are useful and turning them into a decision they can act on,” said Maxwell Tang, Chief Product Officer at Smartly. “Intelligence Pro brings forecasting, market context and state-of-the-art incrementality signals together to help marketers assess where to invest and what their media is contributing. As AI accelerates campaign execution, the quality of each decision matters more.” Intelligence Pro combines four capabilities within Smartly’s platform: Reach Planner helps teams comp

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
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye