KONAMI and UEFA announce new three-year deal

Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. has extended its agreement to exclusively feature the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League elements in forthcoming PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) titles for another three years.

KONAMI and UEFA have enjoyed a close relationship since the original agreement was signed in 2009, and the new partnership will allow KONAMI to use all iconography and presentation elements associated with the competitions exclusively within the PES series. The UEFA Champions League is Europe's greatest club football competition and will be fully integrated into all versions of the game released during the 2015–18 cycle. All versions of the game will also carry official logos for the competitions across their packaging.

The agreement enables KONAMI to incorporate both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League club competitions within its many options, with both featured as individual modes or within the larger season overview upon qualification – while the UEFA Super Cup figures within the iconic Master League mode. The PES series is widely regarded as the most realistic football simulation available, with its most recent edition PES 2015 winning awards such as IGN's Sports Game of the Year 2014, and Best Sports Game 2014 at Europe's prestigious gamescom exhibition.

Guy Laurent-Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events SA, commented: "We are very pleased to continue and extend our working partnership with KONAMI. This new cycle provides an opportunity to build an even closer working relationship, allowing us to activate it in new and exciting ways, and to engage with our mutual fans around the world. We are delighted that future iterations of the series will continue to feature the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, as we also look forward to extending other areas of cooperation."

Sean Ratcliffe, European brand director of KONAMI said: "The UEFA Champions League is the biggest prize in club football, and we are delighted to have extended our exclusive agreement with UEFA to feature it in the PES series. For the past six years we have worked closely with UEFA in creating the PES Virtual UEFA Champions League as a global online version of the real thing, and this year's UEFA Champions League final in Berlin also played host to the climax of the 2015 PES season, as the 16 best players from all over the globe gathered to determine the winner. The grand finals were held within the dedicated PlayStation site at the UEFA Champions Festival event taking place at the legendary Brandenburg Gate, with the two finalists also taking part in an exclusive special exhibition match played pitchside in the lead-up to the final itself in the iconic Olympiastadion. These are exciting times for the PES series."