Dortmund seals sponsorship deal with arms manufacturer ahead of Champions League final

Borussia Dortmund’s Emre Can, left, and Niclas Füllkrug and teammates attend a team training session in Cologne, Germany, Tuesday, May 28, 2024, ahead of their Champions League final against Real Madrid in London on Saturday. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund has signed a new sponsorship deal with German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and will display the defense company’s logo ahead of facing Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

Dortmund said Wednesday the three-year deal with Rheinmetall includes “wide-reaching advertising space, marketing rights and event and hospitality arrangements in the stadium and on the club grounds” starting from this week’s buildup for the Champions League final Saturday.

Rheinmetall is building a new plant in northern Germany to produce around 200,000 artillery shells per year as part of European efforts to increase weapons production against the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Security and defense are fundamental cornerstones of our democracy. That is why we believe it is the right decision to take a very close look at how we protect these cornerstones,” Dortmund chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke said in a statement. “Especially today, when we see every day how freedom must be defended in Europe. We should deal with this new normality.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer