Soft drinks company Coca-Cola has secured the title sponsorship rights to the biggest cup competition in Italian football, the Coppa Italia, having surveyed the area as the title sponsor of the Supercoppa Italiana 2019.
Coca-Cola was keen to acquire the rights of Coppa Italia, as reported by SportBusiness in March because its “modest investment” in the 2019 Supercoppa had proved so successful.
The agreement will begin with the 2019-20 ‘Coppa Italia Coca-Cola’ finale, scheduled for 17 June 2020. Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic the match was postponed from its usual slot in May.
Coca-Cola will utilize media, interactive, and gaming channels along with the branding rights to reach football fans around the world.
During the season 2020-21, the contract between the organizing body of the cup, Lega Serie A, and Coca-Cola will extend further to take over official sponsorship rights to Series A itself.
In a statement, Coca-Cola said that the association with Lega Serie A is part of the brand’s strategy and globalization process and “affirms Coca-Cola’s positioning in the football world with the values of positivity, inclusion, and equality that have always inspired the brand.’
The value of the Coppa Italia tournament title sponsorship rights is set at around €5 m ($5.5 m) per season, a big move up from Coca-Cola’s one-off contract for the 2019 Supercoppa, which was priced at between €250,000 and €500,000.
In 2018 when the government stepped in and overruled the deal in controversial circumstances, a Coppa Italia title sponsorship deal with the rail company Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa brand was scrapped. That deal would run for three seasons, between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
In a contract that ended at the end of the 2017-18 season, Telecom Italia’s smartphone brand TIM had been the title sponsor of Series A, Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa. From the 1998-99 season, it had sponsored the Coppa Italia.
Originally, it only extended its league rights at €15 m a season from the 2018-19 season, but later signed a one-season contract for the Coppa Italia for 2018-19.
