• Bulgarian fans of the most popular football tournament will be able to see and take a picture with the precious trophy thanks to UniCredit - official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League for the next three seasons;

• Bulgaria is among the five European countries to be visited by the trophy before it goes to its new winner in the forthcoming UEFA Champions League season 2009/20010

The most precious European football trophy – the UEFA Champions League’s Cup – comes to Bulgaria in the autumn. For the first time Bulgarian fans will be able to see and take a close picture of the Trophy. It will be placed on a special stage in Alexander Batenberg Square in Sofia on 17-18 October. The Trophy will arrive through Rousse and will travel in a special transparent strong box on top of a 40 tonne truck.

Sofia will have the honour to close the first UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour organized by UniCredit Group. The Trophy Tour will begin on September 16 in Milan. After that the Trophy will visit Zagreb on September 25th-26th, Bucharest on October 3rd-4th, Budapest on October 10th-11th. Bulgaria is in the first group of countries included in the Tour. In 2010 and 2011 the Trophy will travel to two more groups of countries in which UniCredit Group is presented.

The unique international UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour is organized by UniCredit Group as a gift to all fans in the countries in which the Group is active.

Starting from today the banking group with the strongest presence in Central and Eastern Europe becomes an official sponsor of the UEFA for the next three seasons (2009-2012).

"I am delighted that UniCredit is becoming an official partner of the UEFA Champions League for 2009 to 2012," said UEFA general secretary David Taylor. According to him the strong presence of UniCredit in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe, will help further establish the UEFA Champions League brand in these markets.

“The Group has already a good track record in sponsoring major sporting events, but the UEFA Champions League, is definitely the most prominent we have had”, said Paolo Fiorentino, Deputy CEO of UniCredit. He said that UEFA sponsorship gives an excellent opportunity for social initiatives in the countries in which UniCredit operates as well as for initiatives oriented towards the Group employees.

Not only will UniCredit give fans from five countries the opportunity to take a close look at the precious trophy, but it will also create a dedicated website with interesting information about the Trophy Tour, match results, etc.

Last year UniCredit Group was among the sponsors of EURO 2008.

About the UEFA Champions League:

According to information from UEFA, the Champions League Cup is 62 cm high and weighs 7.5 kg. It has cost EUR 6,800 to make. “It might not be a masterpiece but still everybody wants to hold it”, said the creator of the current trophy Jörg Stadelman. In fact only the footballers of the winning team may hold the trophy.

The sixth trophy

This is UEFA’s sixth trophy. It has been awarded to the champion teams since 2006. According to UEFA’s rules one football club receives the trophy forever only if it wins five times or three successive times. The trophy has been awarded forever to Real Madrid, AFC Аjax, Bayern Munchen, Milan and since 2005 - Liverpool.

Currently it is the trophy’s fifth design.

About UniCredit Group:

UniCredit Group is a leading international banking group with strong positions in 22 European countries as well as representation offices on other 27 markets with over 40 mio customers and more than 10,200 branches and around 174 thousand employees.

In Central and Eastern Europe UniCredit has the biggest international network with over 4 thousand branches and offices in which around 78 thousand employees service more than 28 mio customers.

In Bulgaria UniCredit Group is represented by the biggest bank in terms of assets UniCredit Bulbank (with over 260 branches and 4,000 employees), UniCredit Leasing, UniCredit Factoring, UniCredit Consumer Financing and Pioneer Investments.

Contact persons:

UniCredit Bulbank, Public Relations and Corporate Communications

Victoria Blajeva, tel: 02/9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, tel: 02/9264 963, flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch