Philips sponsors European University Football League

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 18, 2001 - Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHI) today announced to sponsor the European University Football League. As part of Philips' continuing and developing youth strategy, the company has acquired the commercial rights and sponsorship for the European University Football League in an attempt to engage the university student population in Europe. The European Student Football Association (ESFA) will do the organization of the event.

In the end the ESFA will establish a standardized National University League in each European country. Based on the results in their National Leagues, the best teams from each country are invited to compete in the European finals. The objective is to create opportunities for all European football-playing students to participate in one of the best University Football Leagues in the world. In 2002 the League will start with seven European countries, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy and the UK.

Gerard Kleisterlee, CEO and President of Royal Philips Electronics will present the Philips Trophy to the men's and women's European University Football champion teams at the PSV stadium in Eindhoven next Saturday 20th October. This year's finals on October 20th mark the start of the Philips European University Football League.

Philips has a long association with professional soccer at the highest level including sponsorship of PSV Eindhoven, the Dutch, US and the Chinese national Teams as well as the World Cup. With the University League the company aims to engage students in a Philips experience and build an intimate dialogue with influential opinion leaders and employees of tomorrow.

Next years finals will be held in Barcelona, Spain. This year's championships finals consist of University Teams from Italy, United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, Finland, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Czech Republic and Ireland.