Hyundai Motor Company has become the Official Automotive Partner of the UEFA Champions League under a new multi-year agreement that will run from the 2026/27 season through the end of the 2030/31 season.
The partnership marks Hyundai’s latest move to strengthen its presence in European club football and brings the automotive manufacturer into a commercial relationship with one of the world’s most prominent annual club football competitions.
Hyundai said the agreement with UC3, the joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs, reflects shared values around progress, performance and bringing people together. The company intends to use the partnership to engage football supporters across Europe while showcasing its mobility offerings and future-oriented technologies.
Football has been a major part of Hyundai’s global sponsorship activities for almost three decades. The company has supported football at the highest levels, including international tournaments as well as clubs and football associations around the world. The UEFA Champions League partnership extends that involvement to the leading level of European club football.
“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. I am from Madrid, so I have watched this competition my whole life. I’m personally excited about engaging with fans across Europe. It’s a great time to celebrate the beautiful game with Hyundai,” said José Muñoz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Motor Company.
Hyundai said the relationship between the two organisations extends beyond their international reach. While the Champions League brings together clubs and players from across the world to compete at the highest level in Europe, Hyundai operates globally while designing, engineering and manufacturing vehicles in Europe for customers across the continent.
Under its “Progress for Humanity” brand vision, Hyundai said it aims to use the partnership and its mobility offerings to connect people across cultures and communities in Europe. The company also intends to create experiences for fans and customers through its involvement with the competition.
“The UEFA Champions League and Hyundai are both driven by progress, performance, and the ambition to bring people together. We are entering this partnership with our strongest line-up yet. IONIQ 3 is the first of five new models we are launching in Europe this season, designed and developed for our customers here in the region, and it is the car that leads our lineup for the future,” said Xavier Martinet, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Motor Europe.
IONIQ 3 to lead Hyundai’s Champions League partnership
The first Hyundai model to represent the brand under the new partnership will be the all-electric IONIQ 3, a compact hatchback designed in Europe for European customers.
The IONIQ 3 is the first of five major new models Hyundai plans to launch in Europe during the 2026/27 season. The vehicle made its debut at Milan Design Week earlier this year and became the first battery-electric vehicle to enter production at Hyundai’s İzmit plant in Türkiye when manufacturing began in August.
Hyundai says the IONIQ 3 has been developed for the highly competitive European compact-car segment. Its Aero Hatch design has a drag coefficient of 0.263 Cd and offers up to 497 kilometres of WLTP range. The vehicle also provides 441 litres of trunk capacity and features a 14.6-inch display with Hyundai’s latest PLEOS Connect infotainment system.
The IONIQ 3 will form part of Hyundai’s broader powertrain strategy in Europe, which includes battery-electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen fuel-cell electric and internal-combustion vehicles.
Hyundai said the new model reflects its wider push to expand electrified mobility in Europe. In 2025, 24% of Hyundai vehicles sold in Europe were electrified, while around 80% of the company’s current European line-up is available with an electrified powertrain. Hyundai has also stated its ambition to electrify all of its models in Europe by 2027.
Partnership targets Champions League’s global audience
The UEFA Champions League is described by Hyundai as the world’s most-watched annual club football competition, with around one in three people worldwide expressing an interest in the tournament. The current competition features 36 clubs competing across the league phase and subsequent knockout rounds.
Hyundai said the Champions League provides a platform to engage with a large international audience while communicating its direction in areas including electrification, software, robotics, physical artificial intelligence and smart mobility solutions.
Hyundai has maintained a significant European operating presence for more than three decades. Its European Technical Centre and European Design Centre are based in Rüsselsheim, Germany, while vehicle production takes place at facilities in the Czech Republic and Türkiye. The company sells vehicles across 42 European markets through more than 2,000 sales and aftersales outlets.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, Co-Managing Director of UC3, welcomed Hyundai to the competition’s commercial partnership programme.
“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.”
The five-year partnership officially begins with the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League season and will continue through the 2030/31 season. Hyundai says it plans to use the relationship to connect with fans across Europe and create new experiences around the competition, with the IONIQ 3 serving as the first vehicle at the centre of the partnership.
