Hyundai Motor Company has officially entered a multi-year partnership as the Official Automotive Partner of the UEFA Champions League. Starting with the 2026/27 season and running through the 2030/31 campaign, the five-year agreement deepens the automaker’s nearly three-decade investment in global football, elevating its presence to the pinnacle of European club competition.
This strategic alignment connects Hyundai with the world’s most-watched annual club tournament. Featuring 36 elite clubs, the competition reaches an audience where roughly one in three people globally expresses an interest in the tournament. Through UC3—the joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs—Hyundai will spotlight its future-focused mobility ecosystem, spanning battery-electric vehicles, software advancements, robotics, and physical AI.
Shared Ambition on European Ground
While globally influential, both the UEFA Champions League and Hyundai operate with deep roots in Europe. The tournament attracts top-tier international athletes competing across the continent, mirroring Hyundai's approach of leveraging worldwide research while engineering, designing, and manufacturing vehicles specifically for European drivers.
“Football has been part of Hyundai for almost 30 years. It brings people together like almost nothing else, across languages and borders and generations. The UEFA Champions League is the best club football in the world, played every week in front of the most passionate fans in Europe. Following Hyundai’s engagement at the World Cup this summer, the UEFA Champions League is an ideal platform to show our beautifully designed vehicles with features fans love.” — José Muñoz, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company
Guy-Laurent Epstein, Co-Managing Director of UC3, highlighted this synergy:
"We are delighted to welcome Hyundai as an official partner of the UEFA Champions League. Hyundai has a proud history of supporting football at the highest level and a clear belief in its power to bring people together. We look forward to building a partnership that brings that shared ambition to life for fans around the world over the coming years."
Hyundai’s European Infrastructure
Hyundai’s continental operations support over 2,000 sales and aftersales locations across 42 European markets:
Design & Engineering: The European Technical Centre and European Design Centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany, craft vehicles tailored to local performance demands and design tastes.
Manufacturing Hubs: High-volume vehicle production takes place at modern facilities in the Czech Republic and İzmit, Türkiye.
Core Philosophy: Anchored by its brand vision, Progress for Humanity, Hyundai aims to unite diverse communities through inclusive social initiatives and accessible, forward-thinking mobility.
Spotlight on the All-Electric IONIQ 3
Leading Hyundai’s campaign on the European stage is the all-electric IONIQ 3, the first of five major vehicle launches scheduled across Europe during the 2026/27 season. First revealed at Milan Design Week, the compact hatchback represents the first battery-electric vehicle produced at the İzmit plant, where manufacturing began in August.
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