10/11/2006 Continental is also an Official Sponsor of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007

Hanover, October 2006. In addition to their sponsorship of UEFA EURO 2008^TM, Continental's tyre divisions are an Official Sponsor of UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 in Holland, thereby firmly pursuing not only their policy of supporting international professional football but also their long-term marketing strategy.

Apart from pitchside advertising, the tickets for the 15 matches to be held from June 10th to 23rd in the four Dutch towns of Arnhem, Groningen, Heerenveen and Nijmegen will be used by Continental for promotional purposes. The Hanover-based company is thereby continuing to pursue its objectives of increasing international awareness of the premium tyre brand Continental, giving the brand image a more emotional appeal, clearly differentiating the brand from the competition through product exclusivity and creating even closer business relationships with the tyre trade. "In addition to our sponsorship activities for UEFA EURO 2008^TM, we will also be focusing on support for up-and-coming players" commented Ralf Hoffmann, Continental Brand Manager for the European replacement market car tyres.

Here you can download the press release as a doc-file (1,4 MB).

Through the ContiTrainingCamps set up back in 2003 in co-operation with record-holding First Division player Charly Körbel and his Eintracht Frankfurt Football School, Continental had already become involved in supporting youngsters in Germany and created sponsorship highlights. The group draw for the eight qualifying teams will be held in Arnhem on 24th November 2006. So far beside of the host country Holland the teams from England, Italy, Portugal, Serbia and Czech Republic have qualified for the finals. The four semi-finalists will automatically qualify for the 2008 Olympic football tournament in Beijing.

Full details about UEFA EURO 2008^TM, UEFA European Under-21 Championship and all of the company's own football-related activities can be found on the Continental website www.ContiSoccerWorld.de. These include competitions where there will be numerous tickets to be won for exciting matches. The "Insights" series features exclusive reports on players and teams, plus background information about UEFA EURO 2008^TM, giving visitors a wealth of interesting facts on the subject of football.

From January 2003 to August 2006, Continental successfully focused its communication on the company's sponsorship of the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM, thereby substantially increasing awareness of the premium tyre brand Continental in numerous important markets.

The Continental Corporation is a leading supplier of tyres, brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics and technical elastomers. In 2005 the corporation realised sales of EUR13.8 billion. At present it has a worldwide workforce of approximately 85,000.

The tyre divisions are an Official Sponsor of UEFA EURO 2008^TM. For further information visit the websites  ContiSoccerWorld.de, www.ContiFanWorld.com and www.conti-online.com.