Hamburg - The Bundesliga championship plate, the coveted Meisterschale, will embark on its first-ever nationwide tour of Germany at the beginning of March.
The roadtrip, which will run until the end of the current season, is set to begin in Dortmund with stop-offs planned in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Essen, Stuttgart, Cologne and Nuremberg. The exact dates of the itinerary have yet to be confirmed.
The promotional tour is part of a new partnership between the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and the Hamburg-based logistics company Hermes. The contract runs from the start of the second half of the season, when FC Schalke 04 host Hannover 96 on 18 Friday January (kick-off 20:30 CET), through to 30 June 2017. The agreement foresees the placement of a logo on the left arm of players' shirts, the fourth official's display board and on the stele displaying the match ball ahead of kick-off.
"The Bundesliga is one of Germany's last remaining cross-generational institutions," said Christian Seifert, CEO of the executive board of the DFL: "With the presentation of the championship plate around the country, we want to further underpin that status."