Ekstra Bladet on board as national sponsor

Ekstra Bladet, one of Denmark's leading newspapers, has signed up to become the second national sponsor of the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Scandinavian country next summer.

In its role as official newspaper of the UEFA European U21 Championship, Ekstra Bladet will provide significant promotion of the tournament that is taking place between 11 and 25 June in the Danish cities of Aalborg, Aarhus, Herning and Viborg. The fact that Ekstra Bladet has a circulation of around 400,000 daily readers, rising to almost half a million on Sundays (in an estimated population of 5.5 million people), will greatly increase awareness of the competition.

David Taylor, CEO of UEFA Events SA, said: "UEFA is delighted to welcome Ekstra Bladet on board as a national sponsor of the U21 tournament. As official newspaper of the U21 finals, Ekstra Bladet will give the championship a significant boost by providing valuable exposure for the tournament across their different media platforms – both in print and on their popular website."

The Ekstra Bladet marketing director Thomas Rydberg was delighted to strengthen his organisation's involvement in football on a European level. "The UEFA U21 tournament is an important event for Danish football and Ekstra Bladet wants to be part of that," he said. "Therefore it was natural for us to contribute with the strengths we as a media can offer for such a vital tournament featuring the stars of tomorrow."

Preparations for the finals have been ongoing since December 2008 when Denmark were announced as hosts, and with Ekstra Bladet on board, another piece of the jigsaw falls into place. The major Danish broadcaster TV 2 was named in July as UEFA's broadcast partner in the host country for the championship.