Zug, Switzerland / Frankfurt Main, Germany, 8 November 2011 – The Presidential Board of the Deutsche Fussball-Bund (DFB) has prolonged the DFB Cup (DFB Pokal) marketing rights agreement with the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media until the end of the 2015/2016 season. At the same time, the DFB awarded the media rights for the same period to the public broadcaster ARD (8 matches live) and the pay TV operator Sky (63 matches live), ensuring broad domestic television coverage.

“The new agreements with our TV partners ARD and Sky ensure optimal TV coverage of the DFB Cup. Unlike the level of coverage in any other country - all 63 matches will be transmitted live. This reflects the continual growth in popularity of the competition with the final in Berlin as the ultimate annual highlight” said DFB President, Dr Theo Zwanziger.

The new contract with the DFB confirms Infront’s central role, handling all stadium advertising rights for all DFB Cup matches. Since the 2009/2010 season all 63 matches of the competition have been covered live, along with all the rights managed from one central source by Infront.

From the initial introduction of the marketing platform, for the first time, commercial partners of the DFB Cup were provided with product category exclusivity throughout the entire competition. Today, the well established platform now has four major brands involved as TOP partners – Bitburger, Continental, Deutsche Post (German postal services) and Jack Wolfskin, along with seven additional SPOT partners.

“Our partnership with Infront has provided a trustworthy working relationship that for many years has implemented and developed the successful marketing rights for the DFB Team matches. This is why we have decided, with absolute confidence, to continue our relationship through to 2016”, Wolfgang Niersbach, General Secretary of the DFB, added.”

Overall amount of DFB Cup partners to be further reduced
Stephan Herth, Executive Director Summer Sports at Infront, commented: “We are extremely pleased with the prolongation of our agreement. It confirms the success of the approach chosen and the overall high level of services we provide to the DFB. We will continue to work very closely with the DFB on this contract, further developing both the premium event value as well as the exclusivity for commercial partners in the upcoming years.”

Dr Uwe Ploch, Director Summer Sports at Infront, added: “For the 2012/2013 season, as the next major step, we will further reduce the overall amount of DFB Cup partners by 45 per-cents from eleven to only six. This is how we will cement the event’s position as a consistent and highly exclusive all-year communication platform with even higher potential for major brands. Besides all the other benefits, next year for the first time commercial partners will also be entitled to use the DFB Cup logo for their communication activities.”

About Infront Sports & Media
Infront Sports & Media, based in Zug, Switzerland, has grown impressively in recent years to become one of the leading international sports marketing groups in the world. Known for its high standards of delivery, the company covers all aspects of a successful sport event – including distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production and event operations. As a key player in winter sport, football and other summer sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with 120 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. With an experienced and passionate team of 500 staff in over 20 offices across 10 countries, the Group helps to annually deliver more than 2,300 event days of top class sport around the world.


For further information, please contact:
 
Jörg Polzer / Nike Möhle
Corporate Communications
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-41-723 15 15
Fax +41-41-723 15 16
press infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com

Jens Grittner
stv. Direktor Kommunikation & Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V.
Tel. +49-69-67 88 420
Fax: +49-69-67 88 204
Jens.Grittner dfb.de