Business

Heineken to end UEFA Champions League sponsorship in 2027

Published

9 months ago

November 5, 2025

1,788 Views

Heineken will end its long-running sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League in August 2027, concluding a partnership that began in 1994 with the Amstel brand before transitioning to the flagship Heineken label in 2005.

The company confirmed the decision on 30 October following a strategic review of its global sponsorship portfolio, citing a renewed emphasis on investments tied closely to measurable value creation and return on spend.

The announcement follows news that AB InBev has entered exclusive negotiations with UEFA’s commercial arm, UC3, to become the global official beer partner across all men’s club competitions from 2027 to 2033.

The agreement, if finalised, would cover premier tournaments including the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.

Heineken stated that its exit from the competition aligns with an evolving global marketing strategy, focused on platforms that deliver high engagement and sustained brand impact.

The brewer confirmed continued investment in major global sports properties, including Formula 1, where it holds both title and sustainability partnerships, and Premier Padel, an international racket sport it joined as global beer partner earlier this month.

The company also extended its partnership with the UEFA Women’s Champions League earlier this month, securing rights for the 2025–2030 cycle.

Meanwhile, Heineken faces mounting pressure from investors to accelerate performance improvements. Industry analysts note that despite challenges faced across the global beer sector, the company has lagged behind market leader AB InBev in cost efficiency and volume momentum.

Investors argue that Heineken’s relatively larger brewery footprint and higher fixed costs in certain regions may require deeper operational changes, including potential facility rationalisation.

CEO Dolf van den Brink, who has led the €39 billion group since 2020, has outlined a dual-focus approach to sharpen efficiency and stabilise volume performance.

As part of its strategy presented earlier this year, Heineken committed to achieving up to €500m in annual gross cost savings through 2030, while concentrating growth initiatives on 17 priority markets and five core global brands.

The company aims to deliver mid-single-digit annual revenue growth with operating profit and earnings per share rising at a faster pace.

Van den Brink said he expects the beer market to return to approximately 1% volume growth annually once near-term macroeconomic pressures and geopolitical turbulence ease, with Heineken targeting performance ahead of the global category.

Related Topics:Featured Heineken UEFA Champions League sponsorship in 2027

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Business

Cardoso Urges Banks To Lend Out Idle Funds With CBN * Retains MPR at 26.5%

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

Published

10 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

23 Views

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso , urged banks from keeping idle funds with the apex bank and encouraging increased lending into the economy.

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

The apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), also known as benchmark interest rate, at 26. 5 percent.

This decision marks the second consecutive retention of the MPR at 26.5 per cent, following a 50-basis-point reduction in February from 27 per cent.

“The committee’s decision to maintain the current policy stand follows a thorough assessment of the balance of risk,” said Cardoso.

He emphasised that although headline inflation moderated marginally in June 2026, global uncertainties have heightened due mainly to the renewed hostilities in the Middle East.

The MPC also adjusted the asymmetric facilities corridor around the MPR to +50/-450 basis points—a move aimed at discouraging banks from keeping idle fund with CBN.

Furthermore, the committee maintained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks at 45 per cent, retained the rate for merchant banks at 16 per cent, and kept the CRR on non-TSA public-sector deposits at 75 per cent for liquidity management considerations.

Cardoso said despite the global uncertainties, the Nigerian economy has “remained largely resilient to the external shocks”.

Business

CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency

Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Published

18 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

21 Views

File photo : PFIPC agency DG, Adeniyi Adeyemi

The Central Bank of Nigeria had admitted that it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The apex bank made the confirmation, yesterday, during the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

He explained that on July 30, 2025, CBN received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General.

“We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.

He explained the CBN’s verification process, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.

The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.

Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.