World Cup FRANCE 98 – Press Releases

14 April 1997

Michelin, the Official World Cup tyre

Messrs Fernand Sastre and Michel Platini, Presidents of the French Organising Committee for the World Cup, signed a contract on 14 April 1997 with Edouard Michelin, Manager of the Michelin Group, making Michelin the “Official Tyre of the 1998 World Cup”.

This agreement enables Michelin to use the World Cup name internationally on all its communications associated with tyres.

Indeed, for Michelin, the World Cup promises to be a moving occasion, as in 1998 the Michelin Man (“Bibendum” in French), the firm’s internationally famous ambassador, will celebrate his one hundredth birthday. A meeting has already been scheduled with Footix, the FRANCE 98 mascot.

The Michelin Group has 74 factories in 17 different countries and does business in 170 countries altogether – coincidentally, exactly the same number as the nations participating in the sixteenth football World Cup.

This agreement is of special importance to the French Organising Committee as it is the first contract to be signed in the “Official World Cup Products and Services” programme.

“We are delighted” said Fernand Sastre during the contract ceremony, “that a Group like Michelin is getting the ball rolling for us in this new partnership line.” He went on to say, “I see this as additional proof, if there had ever been any doubt, that all the major French companies are right behind us for this historic event.”