FedEx Express, an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League, has revealed a giant piece of street art featuring Karim Benzema, Mohamed Salah, Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti ahead of the highly anticipated final at Stade de France on Saturday. The mural immortalises the defining moments of what has been an unforgettable UEFA Champions League season, including Luca Modric’s sublime assist for Rodrigo in the quarter-final against Chelsea, Robert Lewandowski’s astonishing bicycle kick against Dynamo Kyiv, and Karim Benzema’s ‘Panenka’ penalty against Manchester City.
FedEx Express unveiled the street art outside Stade de France alongside Liverpool and Real Madrid legend Steve McManaman, who had his own defining moment in the stadium 22 years ago when he scored a spectacular volley in Madrid’s 3-0 triumph over Valencia to win the competition. Speaking about the street art, McManaman said: “There has been so much drama leading up to this Final that it’s only fitting we celebrate every moment of it in style. You’ve only got to glance at some of the images in FedEx’s mural to get a real sense of what this tournament means to the players and managers involved. Football fans will be looking at this wondering what could possibly happen next as we head into the game on Saturday – it’s really exciting.”
FedEx has been celebrating the defining moments of the UEFA Champions League across the entire season, including a content series with Xabi Alonso exploring the numbers and analytics behind some of the UEFA Champions League’s greatest ever players.
Speaking about the latest activation at the Final, Wouter Roels, Senior Vice President Marketing International, FedEx Express Europe, said: “FedEx’s sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League creates opportunities to connect with people all over the world through the passion and emotion of football. We’ve tried to capture some of that emotion in this unique piece of art so that fans can relive the moments that make this competition so special, from the group stages right through to the Final.”
The art was created over three days in collaboration with street artist MurWalls, who painted onto a wall of nearly 200 FedEx boxes, each carefully connected and then housed in a FedEx shipping container to form a unique canvas. Speaking about their involvement in the project, MurWalls Founder and CEO Marc Silver said: “We’ve created some unique street art in our time but painting on 200 cardboard boxes was a brilliant new challenge for us. As football fans we have lived and breathed these moments as they’ve happened across the season, so to celebrate them again in this way is very special. We hope it gives fans that final injection of excitement before the game on Saturday.”
Fans attending the final will be able to see the installation directly outside Stade de France as they enter the stadium, where it will remain open throughout Saturday ahead of kick-off.
