Heineken, official partner of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, to host ‘The Kick Off’, a virtual celebration livestream bringing fans around the world together for the first time ever, through global dance music institution Defected Records to mark the start of a revised 3-week tournament format – the first of its kind – 8 DJs, across 8 locations, for 8 hours in one livestream to celebrate the end of the wait for the culmination of Europe’s two premier club football competitions.
The Kick Off is an innovative party format developed as a result of the unforeseen recent global pandemic, bringing fans around the world together to socialise responsibly. The event will host a stellar line-up of world class house music talent including electro music icon Bob Sinclar, global superstar Idris Elba, crossover hit machine Purple Disco Machine, as well Defected favourites Low Steppa, Melvo Baptise, Aline Rocha, Ferreck Dawn and DJ Monki. Monki will also present live from Lisbon in Portugal, the home of this year’s rearranged UEFA Champions League final.
Each DJ will stream live from unique locations either at-home, in-bars or from special locations including the Heineken Experience, Amsterdam and the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. From Brazil to the UK, DJs will be mixed into a seamless format which proved such a success throughout the Defected Virtual Festival series earlier in lockdown. The 9-week series, described by Facebook as defying “the woes of coronavirus” and uniting 18.5 million people between March and May this year, set a new bar for virtual music events, bringing Defected’s signature state-of-the-art production and uplifting community spirit to a bigger global audience.
The event is part of HEINEKEN’s wider European domestic football campaign which will also include an appearance from football legend Thierry Henry and other well-known football stars. The Kick Off will be broadcast across Defected’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch channels as well as Heineken® and UEFA’s social platforms, and distributed across the globe, as far as China.
The digital connection of fans around through this event is an innovative step into what could be the future of sport sponsorship event.
Heineken and UEFA’s Kick Off party hosted by Defected will be streamed across Heineken®, UEFA and Defected channels between 17:00-01:00 CEST/16:00-00:00 BST/WEST on Sunday 9 August.