After the Champions League withdrew the Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, Crypto.com reportedly stepped in as a potential sponsor.
According to reports, the $500 million sponsorship arrangement between Crypto.com and the Union of European Football Associations’ Champions League has been terminated.
SportBusiness reported on Wednesday that Crypto.com withdrew from a $495 million agreement with the Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, just before it was approved, citing legal issues with the exchange’s licenses in the UK, France, and Italy. The UEFA Champions League would have featured Crypto.com’s branding for five seasons, beginning in 2027, at a cost of about $100 million per season.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Champions League dismissed the state-owned energy company Gazprom as a sponsor, and the sports news site stated that Crypto.com had stepped in as a prospective replacement. In an effort to avoid aiding Russia’s economy during the conflict, many regions of Europe announced plans to become independent from the nation’s supplies of gas and oil.
Crypto.com has spent millions of dollars on advertising and has announced significant partnerships for sporting facilities and teams. In the company’s “fortune favors the brave” television commercial, which debuted in October, actor Matt Damon made an appearance.
The exchange signed a 20-year, $700 million agreement to rename Los Angeles’ Staples Center the Crypto.com Arena, and collaborated with Formula 1 for its Sprint series in 2021. Earlier, the exchange had agreed to sponsor the Aston Martin squad in the racing competition. The exchange launched a $25 million five-year sponsorship agreement with the Australia Football League in 2022, becoming one of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar’s official sponsors.
In June, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek indicated that the exchange would lay off 260 workers, or 5% of its corporate staff, due to the current market collapse. It’s unclear whether the platform’s long-term sponsorship agreements will suffer as a result of the decline in cryptocurrency values.
