Kia sponsors ‘FIFA Confederations Cup 2009’ and ‘2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship’
- Kia provides 34 vehicles as official automotive sponsor of FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa
- UEFA European Under-21 Championship accepts 46 Kia vehicles in Sweden
- Competitions in both continents to fan global football fever leading up to 2010 FIFA World Cup South AfricaTM
Kia Motors, a maker of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart, is supplying official vehicles from its wide-ranging model line-up to transport athletes and VIPs at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 (June 14-28, 2009) and the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 (June 15-29, 2009).
In Johannesburg, South Africa, nine days before the official start of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009, Kia Motors delivered its cars to Skhumbuzo Macozoma, Transport and Logistics Manager for the FIFA 2009 World Cup Local Organizing Committee, at a June 5th ceremony held at the Expo Centre. The ceremony was attended by 100 FIFA officials, Kia representatives and local press.
The fleet of cars delivered by Kia includes 24 of the company’s most popular models, including the Sorento, cee’d, Carnival (also known as ‘Sedona’ in other markets) and Sportage models. Kia Motors also supplied 10 buses to transport national team players and FIFA officials for protocol and transportation purposes.
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“Kia Motors is delighted to be a part of the FIFA Confederation Cup,” said Soon-Nam Lee, Director of the Overseas Marketing Group, Kia Motors Corporation, in attendance at the ceremony. “Being involved actively in football marketing is an integral part of our vision to become a formidable player on the global automotive stage. We have made a strategic effort to boost our young and energetic brand identity by ramping up our presence in major sports sponsorships and to enhance Kia’s brand awareness worldwide.”
In Sweden’s Malmo Football Arena, Kia handed over a fleet of 46 vehicles to transport teams, VIPs, officials and referees at the finals in Sweden for the UEFA European Under-21 tournament. The fleet includes a range of comfortable and safe Kia flagship cars, including the luxury Opirus, Sorento, cee'd and recently launched Soul cross-over. The June 5th ceremony was attended by Karl-Erik Nilsson, the championship's Tournament Director, Deputy Tournament Director Bo Sundstrom and Andreas Bennetter, Fleet Manager for Kia Motors Sweden.
“After successfully sponsoring UEFA EURO 2008™ in Austria and Switzerland,” said Jack Kim, President of Kia Motors Sweden, “Kia is proud to be partnering with the U21 championship. Supporting young athletes in pursuit of excellence is directly in line with our young-at-heart brand and drivers.” With two new stadiums built for the tournament, the Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg and the Malmö New Stadium, where the final will be staged on June 29th, Kia Motors has sponsored the Kia Venue Guide on UEFA’s official website (www.uefa.com). The guide provides information on the tournament’s four venues, their capacity, history, locations, as well as photos and downloadable wallpapers for the ‘plugged-in’ demographic in the region.
Throughout the two football competitions, Kia will leverage its sponsorship activity to demonstrate its sponsorship through on- and offline advertising, strategic logo placement throughout the events’ stadiums, and television broadcasting. The Kia brand will also be prominently featured on the official events’ websites.
As part of its marketing activities, Kia Motors will display the Soul, among other models, and offer test drives near the stadiums to demonstrate the high quality, reliability and prestige of its vehicles.
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Kia will also showcase two Soul models decorated with images of the teams competing in the FIFA Confederations Cup at major stadiums. FIFA has organized the Ticket Fund program that will distribute category IV tickets free of charge to South African residents during the FIFA Confederations Cup. The Ticket Fund is a socially responsible initiative to benefit social or human development activities in South Africa. Kia, as an official partner, committed to sustainability, will fully support FIFA’s initiative by distributing 4,500 tickets to college students who participate in the “Green Goal Project.”
The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has signed a strategic sponsorship agreement with UEFA and FIFA that covers international games hosted by the associations, including EURO 2008, FIFA Confederations Cup 2009, as well as the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
Photo captions: (South Africa) Left to right: Ray Levin, Kia Motors South Africa President; TJ Park, Deputy General Manager, Middle-East & Africa Regional Headquarters; Soon-Nam Lee, Director, Overseas Marketing Group; Skhumbuzo Macozoma, Transport & Logistics Manager, FIFA 2009 World Cup Local Organizing Committee; FIFA 2009 World Cup Local Organizing Committee Members; Myoung-Hwa Park, FIFA.
(Sweden) Left to right: Johan Märtensson, Kia Motors Sweden South Regional Manager; Andreas Bennetter, Kia Motors Sweden Fleet Manager; Jack Kim, Kia Motors Sweden President; Karl-Erik Nilsson, U-21 Tournament Director; Bo Sundstrom, U-21 Deputy Tournament Director.
