Ford is proud to be a partner of the UEFA Champions League, European football's most prestigious club trophy and one of the world's great annual sporting events.
The UEFA Champions League Final 2009 sees two of Europe's most famous football clubs, England's Manchester United FC and Spain's FC Barcelona, meet on the 27th May in front of 70,000 fans in Rome's Stadio Olimpico to decide who will lift the European Cup and be crowned the best club team in Europe. This will be the 17th successive final in which Ford has been official sponsor, and Ford is the only remaining founding partner of the UEFA Champions League Final.
An estimated 120 million television viewers in over 200 countries will watch the game live, making it one of the largest television global audiences of the year. During half time many European television viewers will see the premiere of a new Ford commercial. The advertisement highlights Ford's 'kinetic design' form language that has become the hallmark of Ford of Europe cars from the all-new Ford Ka through the range to the Ford Galaxy.
As Official Vehicle Supplier to the UEFA Champions League, Ford has provided over 140 vehicles including Ford Kuga, Ford S-MAX and Ford Transit minibuses to transport officials and fans to the final. This is in addition to over 700 vehicles which are used throughout the season for the swift and safe travel of match officials and fans.
Eleven lucky children will be on the pitch waving the UEFA Champions League Star Ball Banner as part of the opening ceremony for the final thanks to Ford who ran a competition in host country, Italy in the run up to the final.
Ford has been a partner of the UEFA Champions League since the inception of the tournament in 1992 and has been proud to help fans get to the UEFA Champions League matches since then. Check www.ford.eu for more information about Ford sponsorship activity and chances to win football prizes.