Nissan recruits Champions League football stars

NISSAN has gone football mad ahead of the new European season, recruiting as brand ambassadors two of the finest talents to grace the 2014-15 Champions League.

The Japanese firm is sponsoring the competition this year, and has secured the services of Brazil's captain of Paris Saint-Germain Thiago Silva and the Barcelona and Spain midfielder Andrés Iniesta, who himself has won three Champions League titles.

Dubbed Nissan's new 'Engineers of Excitement', the firm says in a press release that the players “will help the Japanese car manufacturer in its campaign to introduce new innovations to enhance the football fan experience.”

They will feature in a series of TV adverts focusing on how innovation is key, both on and off the field, to creating excitement for football fans and drivers. In addition to the advertising campaign, Iniesta and Silva will make a number of personal appearances, appear at match day events, star in social media content and more.

Iniesta said: "I'm thrilled to work with Nissan on their partnership with the UEFA Champions League. Having won the tournament three times in my career, the competition is very special to me and takes a tremendous amount of hard work and innovation to win. It remains one of the most exciting competitions in the world, and I'm looking forward to sharing that with the fans."

Silva comments, "I'm very happy to be working with Nissan over the upcoming football season. The UEFA Champions League is a great tournament which features some of the best teams, players, managers and innovators in the game. The week-in-week-out drama on and off the pitch over a season truly excites and is what fans thrive on."

By Press Association reporter