The iconic Champions League ball will be redesigned next year after Nike entered exclusive talks with Uefa to become the official match ball provider for the 2027 to 2031 cycle of the competition.
The US sportswear group has beaten off competition from incumbent supplier Adidas and fellow challenger Puma after offering to double Uefa’s current fee to around $45m per year.
Adidas has held the Champions League contract since 2001, when the German company introduced the iconic Finale ball, featuring a star design which mimics the Champions League logo. That design has been used in every match ball since and has become synonymous with the highest level of European football.
Nike was previously Uefa’s match ball supplier between 1997 and 2001, during which period they used simpler designs featuring the company’s own trademark swoosh prominently.
Adidas is understood to hold rights to the star design, meaning the last match with the star ball will be the 2027 Champions League final, set to be played on 5 June of that year at Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano.
Nike and UC3, the joint venture between Uefa and the leading clubs that run the Champions League, will work together on a new design.
The match ball tender was run on behalf of UC3 by Relevent Football Partners, the sports media, sponsorship and licensing company that is part of a portfolio of companies owned by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
Relevent opted to bundle the Champions League match ball along with that for the Europa League and Conference League for the first time, and Nike have won the contract for all three competitions.
The Europa League and Conference League match balls are currently supplied by French sports retailer Decathlon under the brand name Kipsta.
Barcelona have lodged a formal complaint on Thursday over the officiating in their 2-0 Champions League home defeat by Atlético Madrid.
The row centres on an incident early in the second half of the quarter-final, first-leg tie. Barça appealed for a penalty after the Atlético goalkeeper, Juan Musso, appeared to have put the ball back into play from a goal kick before defender Marc Pubill handled it inside the six-yard box to retake it.
Referee Istvan Kovacs waved play on and the VAR team did not summon him to the monitor, drawing furious reactions from the Barcelona bench. A statement said: 'the club legal services have submitted a complaint to Uefa today regarding the events in the Champions League [tie] against Atlético Madrid.
'In the 54th minute of the match, after play had been restarted correctly, an opponent player picked up the ball in their area without being penalised. Barcelona understand this decision, along with a grave lack of intervention by VAR, represents a major error. Accordingly, the club has requested an investigation be opened.'
Interpretations of similar incidents have varied. In the Champions League quarter-finals in April 2024, the referee did not award Bayern Munich a penalty after Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães touched the ball after an apparent restart from goalkeeper David Raya. Later that year, VAR intervened to award Club Brugge a penalty after a similar incident involving Aston Villa's Emiliano Martínez and Tyrone Mings. Reuters
Relevent have made significant changes since winning the contract to the commercial rights for Uefa’s club competitions between 2027 and 2033, replacing their longstanding partner Team.
In a surprise, Relevent sold Uefa’s global beer partner package to AB InBev, brewers of Budweiser and Michelob, ending a 35-year deal with Heineken that began when the Champions League was created in 1992.
Relevent have also led the global TV rights sales process that has produced increases of over 20% in the biggest five European markets, including Paramount winning most of the Champions League rights in the UK and Germany from 2027 to 2031.
In the US, the rights for Uefa club competitions are held by CBS Sports/Paramount until 2030.
