August 2010:
After a successful 2010 FIFA World Cup - Continental AG now sponsor the DFB Cup and FC Bayern Munich

Hanover (pps) Continental AG, one of the world’s leading tyre manufacturers, will seriously continue its football sponsorship following the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Due to the positive response from its commitments at the last two football World Cup finals in South Africa and Germany, as well as at the 2008 European Championship in Austria and Switzerland, the automobile supplier has decided to complement the sponsorship of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, announced in the spring of 2010, with specially chosen regional sponsoring activities.

In this regard, several major decisions have been taken at the company’s headquarters in Hanover.

The announcement in spring 2010 that Continental will support the Major Soccer League in the USA, as its official partner for the first time, was followed shortly before the kick-off of the World Cup by the decision to sponsor the DFB Cup.

According to official DFB information, the package purchased from the Swiss rights marketing company Infront runs for two years at first and guarantees Continental a notable ticket allocation for all 63 German Cup matches, which may be used for promotional purposes along with TV presentation on advertising boards and other advertising media in the stadia.

Alexander Luehrs, press spokesman for Continental’s car tyre departments, explained: “With this sponsoring we are building a bridge in the German-speaking countries between the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the qualifying matches, starting in 2012, for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. We thus want to put our engagement in professional football on an even broader basis.”

Continental spokesman Alexander Lührs

It is fitting that Continental has also announced the signing of a contract as Official Tyre Partner with German record-winning champions FC Bayern Munich. Luehrs: “We are pleased about this attractive opportunity to link the two premium brands Continental and FC Bayern Munich as exclusive tyre partners, and add another element to our international football sponsoring strategy. The national and international perception of the premium brand Continental, focussed on safety and braking performance, will be considerably strengthened by the connection with Germany’s most successful club team and last year’s Champions League finalists.”

Consequently Continental is not only a major player in the DFB Cup event, but also in the Champions League. A better networking ploy is hardly conceivable. On the product level, the players’ cars, as well as the team bus, will be equipped with premium tyres from European market leader Continental.