Ioniq 3 fronts Hyundai's new UEFA Champions League deal

KUALA LUMPUR: Hyundai has signed a multi-year deal to become the official automotive partner of the UEFA Champions League.

It kicks off with the 2026/27 season and runs to the end of 2030/31, so that's five seasons of Hyundai branding wrapped around the biggest club competition in the game. The announcement came out of Offenbach, Germany.

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The new Ioniq 3 is the poster boy for this partnership

The Ioniq 3 is Hyundai's new compact electric hatchback, designed in Europe for European buyers and built in Türkiye. It's the first battery electric model to roll off the line at the İzmit plant, where production started in August, and it made its public debut at Milan Design Week earlier this year.

Hyundai calls the body style an "Aero Hatch", which is a fancy way of saying low nose and long roofline, but the numbers behind it hold up. Drag coefficient is 0.263 Cd, and the long range version with the 61 kWh battery is quoted at up to 497 km WLTP.

Below that sits a 42.2 kWh standard range car rated at 344 km. It uses the E-GMP platform, though on a 400V architecture rather than the 800V setup in the bigger Ioniq models, so don't expect Ioniq 5 charging speeds.

Boot space is 441 litres from a car that's 4,155 mm long on a 2,680 mm wheelbase, which is a decent result, and Hyundai claims best in class interior space to go with it.

The dash carries a 14.6-inch display running the latest PLEOS Connect infotainment. It's the first of five major new models Hyundai is bringing to Europe this season, and the European credentials are real enough: the cars are engineered and styled at Rüsselsheim in Germany, built in the Czech Republic and Türkiye, and sold across 42 European markets through more than 2,000 outlets.

Football isn't new ground for Hyundai

Hyundai has been in the sport for close to 30 years, going back to its first FIFA deal in 1999.

"Football has been part of Hyundai for almost 30 years. It brings people together like almost nothing else, across languages and borders and generations," said José Muñoz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hyundai Motor Company. "I am from Madrid, so I have watched this competition my whole life. I'm personally excited about engaging with fans across Europe."

Closer to home, Hyundai Motor Malaysia has been Selangor FC's official mobility partner since the 2025-2026 season and renewed the deal for 2026/2027.

It's a logistics arrangement more than a shirt-front one, covering the club's transport on match days and in between. The Red Giants finished third in the Malaysia Super League last season and went all the way to the final of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup before ending up runners-up.

Step back a level and the regional picture is even more Hyundai. The brand took over title sponsorship of the ASEAN Championship, the tournament Harimau Malaya play in, which is now branded the ASEAN Hyundai Cup.

The 2026 edition ran from July to August and Vietnam kept the trophy. Hyundai is also a presenting partner of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup, the ASEAN Women's MSIG Serenity Cup and the ASEAN U-23 Championship, grouped together under the ASEAN United FC banner. The AFF, which runs all of it, is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.

So the Champions League deal isn't Hyundai discovering football. It's the top layer of a stack that already runs through the Malaysia Super League and the rest of the region.

Xavier Martinet, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Europe, tied the European deal straight to the product push: "We are entering this partnership with our strongest line-up yet. IONIQ 3 is the first of five new models we are launching in Europe this season, designed and developed for our customers here in the region, and it is the car that leads our lineup for the future."

From the other side of the table, UC3 co-managing director Guy-Laurent Epstein said: "We are delighted to welcome Hyundai as an official partner of the UEFA Champions League."

Plenty of Hyundai on screen on Champions League nights from next season, plenty of Hyundai on the touchline at Selangor games, and but just no Ioniq 3 in Malaysian showroom. Just don't read too much into the car in the ad break.

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