Infront secures engelbert strauss as Presenting Sponsor for the Basketball Champions League

Just four months into the new pan-European basketball competition major brands are already showing confidence in the premium platform

Zug, Switzerland – The Basketball Champions League enters the playoffs with a new Presenting Sponsor: Secured by Infront Sports & Media, a Wanda Sports company, the workwear manufacturer engelbert strauss will benefit from strong visibility across the newly launched basketball competition until at least the 2017/18 season. As the Basketball Champions League’s exclusive marketing partner, Infront is responsible for the league’s centralised marketing rights – including the distribution of sponsorship opportunities as well as supporting the overall development of the competition’s new commercial structure.

Proving the pan-European sponsorship platform's value

The agreement with engelbert strauss is confirmed for both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons and provides in-game brand exposure including: signage through LED advertising, court stickers, logo exposure on the sleeves of the official referees, scorers and other event staff as well as logo integration across all digital platforms.

A new outlook for basketball in Europe

As a truly pan-European club competition, the Basketball Champions League is an innovative 50:50 partnership between FIBA and the founding top ten European leagues, namely: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Turkey. Based solely on sporting merits, teams qualify through their respective national leagues with 52 teams from 31 countries playing 348 games in the inaugural season. Games are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (18:00, 18:30, 20:00, 20:30 CET) to protect national leagues’ schedules.

The inaugural season tipped off with the Qualification Rounds on 27 September 2016 with eight teams qualifying for the Regular Season. The Regular Season will conclude tomorrow with the final 12 games. The Playoffs (played across a home and an away leg) will start on Tuesday, 7 February and will be carried out until the end of March, followed by the Final Four from 28 - 30 April played as a knock-out format.

Karl–Heinz Brenner, Head of Marketing, engelbert strauss: “The Basketball Champions League is a fantastic opportunity to align our brand with a new and premium property that offers pan-European visibility. Basketball's attributes and the nature of the fair competition, promoted by the league, is a perfect fit for our brand and image. As the Presenting Sponsor we are looking forward to positioning ourselves within the marketing contingent of the competition and are excited about the benefits of our involvement and what is to come - both through this inaugural season investment and next season as well.”

Patrick Comninos, CEO of the Basketball Champions League: “The Basketball Champions League is a premium competition based on healthy sporting principles and club inclusiveness that corresponds to the needs of the clubs. This agreement with engelbert strauss demonstrates the recognition and profile we have built up already. With Infront as a partner, we are confident we have the best player by our side. Infront’s experience in basketball together with its network in Europe provides a perfect fit for the needs of our new league.”

Stephan Herth, Executive Director Summer Sport at Infront: “As the only true and upcoming pan-European basketball league, the Basketball Champions League perfectly complements Infront’s comprehensive basketball portfolio. We are pleased to welcome engelbert strauss on board as it clearly underlines the appeal and the value of this new competition. Together with the Basketball Champions League, we are positioning the league as a premium European basketball property and a ‘must have’ for players, fans and commercial partners.”

About engelbert strauss

engelbert strauss is Europe’s market leader for workwear and occupational safety. The owner-run family company is headquartered near Frankfurt a.M./Germany and has various subsidiaries across the continent, as well as the United Kingdom. A wide range of products are developed, produced and sold directly online, by catalogue and in the company’s own workwearstores®. Due to the high design and functional standards, the products are also growing in popularity within the private sector.

About Basketball Champions League

The Basketball Champions League is an innovative 50:50 joint partnership between FIBA and 10 top European leagues. It is a fair competition based on sporting principles with teams qualifying through national leagues. It is a truly European club competition with 31 countries.

About Infront Sports & Media

Infront Sports & Media, a Wanda Sports company, is the most respected sports marketing company in the world, managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Led by President & CEO Philippe Blatter, Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events – including distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions – and has won a reputation for its high standards of delivery. As the number one player in winter sport and with a leading role in football, summer and endurance sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with close to 170 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 900 experienced staff working from over 35 offices across more than 15 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In November 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Holding, part of the Chinese conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group.

About Wanda Sports

Wanda Sports, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Wanda Group, is the world’s leading sports business entity, founded to capture the opportunities in the global sports industry and to contribute to the prosperous international sports landscape – in three key areas: 1) Spectator Sports (media & marketing business), 2) Participation Sports (active lifestyle business), 3) Services (digital, production and service business). Led by Philippe Blatter as President & Vice Chairman, Wanda Sports incorporates the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media, the iconic endurance brand IRONMAN, and Wanda Sports China. The headquarters are in Guangzhou, China.