Just Eat cuts Champions League deal as sponsorship shifts from growth engine to cost burden

Just Eat is terminating its UEFA Champions League sponsorship one year early as the food delivery group reduces marketing expenditure and reshapes a sponsorship strategy built during its pandemic-era growth phase.The agreement, worth around £40m, had been due to continue after Just Eat extended its UEFA relationship for a further three years from 2024. The company first became a Champions League partner in 2021.Just Eat Takeaway global head of sponsorships Marijn Luchtman said: “We were seen maybe [as a service] for delivering pizzas and kebabs but nothing more. Being associated with such a premium brand like the Champions League flipped that perception.“Our brand was seen as significantly more premium by people who were aware of the fact that we sponsored the Champions League and people were aware of the sponsorships tended to order more with Just Eat.”The early exit therefore reflects a change in business priorities rather than dissatisfaction with the sponsorship’s performance.Just Eat expanded its football investment during the Covid-19 pandemic, when restrictions accelerated demand for food delivery and created a period of rapid customer and revenue growth.That backdrop has since changed, with growth slowing as consumer behaviour normalised and management placing greater emphasis on costs and profitability.Luchtman said: “Covid was a hyper-growth period for Just Eat but [then it stopped]. So suddenly we had a huge sponsorship when we weren’t growing.“It became quite clear that the Champions League did not fit the needs of the business, which is totally understandable.”The decision demonstrates how even successful sports partnerships can become difficult to justify when the underlying economics of the sponsor change.Champions League rights had helped Just Eat reposition itself as a more premium consumer brand and offered global visibility in a highly competitive delivery market. The company’s own assessment suggests awareness of the partnership was also linked to higher ordering behaviour.Those benefits are now being weighed against a substantially different financial environment, with sponsorship no longer considered a core priority.The withdrawal also removes a significant partner from UEFA’s commercial portfolio ahead of schedule, creating inventory that could potentially be resold as UC3 continues to develop the sponsorship programme around UEFA club competitions.Just Eat’s exit highlights a broader challenge for rights holders: long-term sponsorship value depends not only on audience reach and activation performance, but also on whether a partner’s corporate strategy and growth cycle continue to support the expenditure.