Qatar Airways and UEFA Champions League launch clever advertising strategy in subtle dig towards Manchester City

A brand new advertising campaign promoted by UEFA at their Champions League matches is acting as a subtle dig towards Manchester City and their lead sponsor.

Pep Guardiola and his players began their pursuit of a second Champions League title this season with a 0-0 draw against Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in a repeat of the 2023 final in Istanbul.

Despite numerous clear chances to win the game late on, falling to the head and feet of Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden, the points were shared on matchday one as both sides find themselves in the knock-out phase play-off places in the new league format.

But there was one minor point that viewers may have missed that took front and centre stage around the Etihad Stadium’s advertisement plans issued by UEFA for the Champions League opener.

On matchday one, Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium featured the competition’s leading sponsors around their advertisement hoardings, with one brand in particular issuing a subtle dig towards the lead sponsor at the club.

In a repeated message featuring throughout the 0-0 draw against Inter Milan, Qatar Airways’ ‘World’s Best Airline’ messaging was promoted throughout the Etihad Stadium, which is sponsored by Etihad Airways.

This is not the first time that Manchester City and Etihad Airways have had a battle on their hands regarding competitions sponsors and rival airlines, with notable changes made to shirts worn by Pep Guardiola’s players in the FA Cup in recent seasons.

In the last edition of the tournament, Manchester City were given an exemption from wearing Emirates sleeve patches in their fixtures due to the clash with their own airline sponsor Etihad, who are notably a direct rival in the aviation industry.

In the 2019 FA Cup final, during Manchester City’s 6-0 victory over Watford, the Premier League giants went one step further in their battle with competition sponsor Emirates by changing the wording of their front-of-shirt sponsor from ‘Etihad Airways’ to ‘Choose Etihad’.