KONAMI and UEFA announce new three-year deal as PES series retains exclusive rights to Europe’s greatest club football competitions

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 has 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 featured in all versions of the game for the next three years. All versions of the game will also feature official logos for the competitions across its packaging.

The agreement allows KONAMI to feature 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 – with the UEFA Super Cup featured within the iconic Master League mode. The PES series is widely regarded as the most realistic football simulation available, with its most recent PES 2015 iteration winning awards such as IGN’s ‘Sports Game of the Year 2014’ and ‘Best Sports Game 2014’ at Europe’s prestige gamescom exhibition.

“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,” commented Sean Ratcliffe, European Brand Director at Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. “In the past six years we have worked closely with UEFA 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 played host to the climax of the 2015 PES season as the 25 best players from all over the globe gathered to determine the winner. The grand finals were held within the dedicated PlayStation site in the UEFA Champions Festival event taking place at the legendary Brandenburg Gate, with the two finalist also taking part in an exclusive special exhibition match which was played pitch side in the lead up to the final itself in the iconic Olympiastadion. These are exciting times for the PES series.”

“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 in new and exciting ways over the next 3 years” commented Guy Laurent-Epstein – Marketing Director UEFA Events S.A. “We are delighted that future iterations of the series will continue to feature the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League as we also look forward to extending other areas of co-operation.”

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