Despite economic climate, all four TOP Partner categories taken up by leading, blue-chip German companies

Zug, Switzerland / Bonn, Germany, 31 July 2009 – In time for the kick-off of the 2009/2010 DFB Cup (DFB Pokal), Infront Sports & Media has announced a fourth and final major sponsor for Germany’s prestigious club competition in the new TOP Partner category. Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading telecoms companies, is to sponsor the event for the upcoming season.

As a TOP partner, Deutsche Telekom will enjoy access to a comprehensive rights package for all 63 matches of the DFB Cup, with advertising boards and other forms of exposure in camera view, as well as on-site promotional rights and many other effective opportunities in and around the arenas.

 

There will be very substantial television coverage in Germany, where all matches are to be televised live. Every match will be shown live on SKY and eight matches on ARD or ZDF in parallel.

 

Sell out

Infront has now finalised the sale of the TOP partner category in advance of the first Round of the DFB Pokal from 31 July to 3 August 2009. This is just eight months after Infront’s appointment and is a very good result in the current economic climate.

 

Much of the credit must go to the development of the new and more exclusive sponsorship concept which provides a much greater degree of focus on a much smaller number of commercial partners. This sponsorship platform has great appeal and resonance in the German market.

 

Dr. Henning Stiegenroth, Head of Sport Marketing of Deutsche Telekom, said: “As one of the leading German brands, premium football properties are our first choice in sports. We were involved with the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and are also involved with FC Bayern Munich and the home matches of the DFB Team. We are looking forward to expand our productive and rewarding relationship with the DFB and its long-term marketing partner Infront. The DFB Cup is a perfect platform to communicate the broad product and service range of Deutsche Telekom to a wide public across the entire country.”

 

“The fact that we have secured Deutsche Telekom as the fourth top German brand with international appeal is really good news”, said Stephan Herth, Infront’s Executive Director, Summer Sports. “This is a winning situation for the DFB and us, because all Top Partners of the DFB Cup will also contribute their prestigious names and further raise the premium character of the competition. We are now looking forward to deliver a high quality implementation of the first DFB Cup season with the centralised marketing, in particular to the eventful first match day with a total of 32 matches.”

 

Deutsche Telekom at a glance

Deutsche Telekom AG is one of the world's leading telecommunications and information technology service companies. It offers its customers all kinds of products and services for connected life and work. As an international Group, Deutsche Telekom is represented in some 50 countries worldwide. More than half of its net revenue is generated outside Germany. The Company employs some 260,000 (in June 2009) people overall. Deutsche Telekom focuses on major technical and social trends and plays a key role in shaping them: the increasing digitization of many spheres of life, the personalization of products and services, growing mobilization and internationalization. Deutsche Telekom stays abreast of the growing convergence of technologies with an increasingly integrated product portfolio, where personal data such as music, videos and addresses can be accessed through any and all terminal equipment. http://www.telekom.com

 

About the DFB Cup
The DFB Cup is an elimination tournament held annually. It is the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. Infront has a new central role, handling sponsorship and all stadium advertising rights for all games. Previously, Infront only marketed the eight matches that were covered on television. From 2009 onwards, all 63 games of the competition will be covered live for the first time and all the rights managed from one central source, Infront. The four exclusive Top-Partners for the 2009/2010 DFB Cup season are: Bitburger, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Telekom and Jack Wolfskin.

 

Infront Sports & Media – a renowned player in football
Infront Sports & Media, based in Zug, Switzerland, is an experienced international full service sports marketing company with a capacity for innovation that is helping to transform the industry. These innovations have enhanced every area of sports marketing, including distribution of rights, host broadcast, programme production, event operations, brand development, sponsorship and even online entertainment. Infront has 500 employees across 23 offices in 10 countries.

 

Infront has an extensive football portfolio. The Group is a partner of top European football leagues, including Italian's Lega Calcio and the French Football League (Ligue 1) – handling the host broadcast for the first division of the up until 2011/2012 – national football associations including the DFB in Germany and several clubs like SV Werder Bremen, FC Schalke 04, U.S. Città di Palermo and S.S. Lazio Rome. Infront is also best known for working with the sport’s governing bodies. It successfully delivered the global media rights sales and host broadcast of the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup™. Today, Infront is involved in the distribution of the Asian media rights to the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (in a joint venture with Dentsu). The company’s dedicated and highly specialised host broadcast organisation Host Broadcast Services (HBS), is handling the host broadcast of the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup™ and also contributes to UEFA Euro™ events.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Jörg Polzer

Manager, Communication & PR

Infront Sports & Media AG

Tel. +41-41-723 15 15

press infrontsports.com 

www.infrontsports.com

 

 

Please find on the right hand side a German language PDF version of this release for download.

Eine deutsche Fassung der Pressemitteilung finden Sie auf der rechten Seit als PDF-Download.