Sport for Business can reveal this morning the initial details of how brands can put themselves in the running to become national sponsors across next year’s Euro 2020 tournament.

With four games being held in Dublin it will be a higher profile tournament than any we have seen before. If Ireland qualify through the group stages kicking off in two weeks time it is likely to be off the charts.

There are six initial categories for which expressions of interest are being sought. These are in banking; insurance; telecommunications services; human resources and recruitment services; rail; and airlines.

The process to select a national beer partner for the local rights in each of the host countries will be part of the next phase.

The top tier sponsorship covering the Finals as well as the Qualifiers, this year’s and 2021’s Nations League Finals, and a number of other men’s tournaments was completed last year with Volkswagen, booking.com, Hisense, Alipay and Socar already confirmed and one other global partnership to be announced next week.

In each of the six categories, a maximum of two National Sponsorship packages are available in each of the 12 host markets.

Prospective bidders may, however, also submit offers for one or more of the 12 host countries.

The bidding processes for each of the categories will formally open on 27th March, but expressions of interest have to be made before then. All final offers will be required to be submitted by a closing date of 10th May.

The bid documentation and/or any information regarding this UEFA EURO 2020™ National Sponsorship bidding process can be requested from sponsorship@caa11.com.

In order to receive the bid documentation, prospective bidders are requested to include the following initial information in their e-mail:

• Company name and brand name on behalf of which the company wishes to bid
• Product category for which the company wishes to bid
• Host Country or countries for which the company wishes to bid
• Details of current similar contracts held by the company.

The worldwide sales of all men’s UEFA National Team Football competitions during the period 2018–2022 are being carried out exclusively by CAA11 on UEFA’s behalf.

The company was formed to exclusively handle sponsorship sales initially around Euro 2016 and has been UEFA’s partner since 2012. It was initially backed and is still affiliated to the Creative Artists Agency in the United States.

It will be an interesting process to follow and Sport for Business will bring you updates as they become available. Fo now though, the starting gun on sponsorship has been fired.

The FAI, Three, Aviva and SSE Airtricity are active members of the Sport for Business Community.  Contact us today to see what we can do to tell your story within our influential group of members.