Vivendi, the Official Entertainment Sponsor of Rugby World Cup France 2023 (France 2023), and all its entities have been strongly mobilized in recent months to ensure unprecedented publicity for the third-largest sporting event in the world.

On May 31, 2023, with just 100 days before the beginning of the competition, Havas Events has embellished the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and other monuments in all the cities where the competitions will be held. Other Havas entities, including Havas Play, Havas Paris and BETC, have also actively contributed to the partnership with France 2023. The signature film for the competition one year before the event, The Host, was produced by HRCLS (https://urlz.fr/mJTi ).

Canal+, which has been broadcasting the French Top 14 as well as many other national and international competitions for thirty years, will closely follow France 2023 in its sports news programs, in particular daily on INFOSPORT+ and on CANAL+SPORT360. An exclusive documentary about Antoine Dupont, named World Rugby Player of the Year in December 2021, will also be shown in September on CANAL+.

Studiocanal co-produced and distributed the feature film Pour l’Honneur directed by Philippe Guillard and starring Olivier Marchal. Released in French theaters last May, this film, pre-purchased by CANAL+ and CINE+, will be broadcast on Canal+ during France 2023. It highlights rugby and its values and tackles the issues of inclusion and acceptance of others with humor and emotion. Watch the trailer: https://urlz.fr/mJTn.

Prisma Media and Vivendi are launching a series of podcasts in French called Mêlée d’histoires. Several personalities such as Guy Savoy, Julie Gayet, Léa Elui, … share their emotions and memories of the sport, speaking with Cédric Heymans, a sports consultant for Canal+ and former international player with the French national team. Check them out at https://lnk.to/melee.

In-house, the Vivendi-branded Rugby World Cup 2023 ball has been passed from hand to hand for several months, making stops in all the Group’s entities around the world. The Pass Challenge, initiated by Flab Prod of the Canal+ Group, can be watched on https://urlz.fr/mJTu. Between March 2022 and June 2023, some ten introductory sessions to Touch Rugby have been organized for all the Group’s employees. To round off this unifying initiative, a tournament between the various Vivendi entities took place on June 29, 2023, on the turf of the legendary Jean Bouin stadium in Paris.

You can find out more about Vivendi and all is businesses’ strong involvement at https://www.vivendi.com/en/our-group/rwc2023/.

“Vivendi and rugby share the same values: passion, courage, solidarity, and respect. Naturally all the businesses of our Group have mobilized for the Rubgy World Cup France 2023, of which we are the sole Official Entertainment Sponsor. Numerous cross-functional projects have been carried out by Vivendi’s various talents to highlight this major global sporting event. It is with great pride and enthusiasm that we will participate in the success of the Rugby World Cup France 2023!”, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board, commented.


About Vivendi

Since 2014, Vivendi has been building a world-class content, media and communications group. The group owns leading, highly complementary assets in television and movies (Canal+ Group), communications (Havas), magazines (Prisma Media), video games (Gameloft) and live entertainment and ticketing (Vivendi Village). It also owns a global digital content distribution platform (Dailymotion). The combination with Lagardère, subject to the fulfilment of the commitments that Vivendi has proposed to the European Commission, will enable the Group to become the world’s third-largest consumer and educational publishing group. Vivendi’s various businesses cohesively work together as an integrated industrial group to create greater value. Vivendi is committed to the environment and aims to help mitigate climate change by adopting an approach aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreements. In addition, the group is helping to build more open, inclusive and responsible societies by supporting diverse and inventive creative works, promoting broader access to culture, education and its businesses, and increasing awareness of 21st -century challenges and opportunities. www.vivendi.com