Coca-Cola and football World Cup 2006

2006 will be the biggest ever year for Coca-Cola's involvement in football

3 May 2006 10:50 GMT / By Chris Hall

2006 will be the biggest ever year for Coca-Cola's involvement in football, combining the second year of the Football League partnership with sponsorship of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd. (CCE) has a full programme designed to create excitement around the "Coke" brand and these events, which is why they were probably disappointed to see Wayne Rooney’s foot go "pop" last week (excuse the pun).

Alongside a number of events in celebration of the World Cup, including “Win a Player” and chances to win tickets to the games, Coca-Cola has launched on-pack promotions supported by TV advertising.

As their press release stated “The ‘Coca-Cola’ sponsorship of Wayne Rooney will also bring additional opportunities in the run up to the tournament”. Coke, I guess will be watching and waiting like the rest of us.

Anita Huntley, Head of Carbonates, CCE said: “2006 is a big year for ‘Coca-Cola’ and football. Our biggest football promotion to date - Win A Player – is now in its second year and will feature on over 80 million packs until the end of April. Last year, the initiative caught the imagination of football fans everywhere with 1.1 million entries received during the 80 day promotion”.

One thing sticks out though. I recently noticed that Sainsbury's are selling special edition World Cup Coca-Cola "ball" bottles. Yes, to celebrate the World Cup, they are selling 250ml of the drink for 69p - that's less for more.