Looking at the sponsorships between football clubs and bookmakers

Football has grown into a multi-billion pound industry with millions of loyal fans tuning-in to watch games every week. It’s now arguably the most popular sport in the world, so it’s no surprise gambling company’s want a piece of the action. Football and betting share a close, and often controversial, relationship with many prominent clubs in Europe entering into sponsorship agreements with bookmakers and betting sites.

The most successful football clubs often steer clear of having gambling companies as shirt sponsors as they don’t want to negative press from having a bookmakers logo on the front of their shirts. However, virtually all clubs throughout Europe have sponsorship and partnership agreements in place with betting firms in one shape or form.

Gambling companies offer huge sums of money to put their logos on football shirts, sleeves or training kits, and gain access to millions of potential customers via exclusive betting partnership agreements with clubs.

Let’s take a closer look at sponsorships between well-known football clubs and bookmakers and betting sites:

Manchester City

Reigning European and Premier League champions Manchester City are one of the best teams in the world. Pep Guardiola led them to an historic treble last season and they are attracting new fans from all over the world. So it’s no surprise that gambling companies such as 8XBet have partnered with Man City to gain access to their fanbase and enhance their profile. The Asian bookmaker are City’s official betting partner and they offer supporters of the club exclusive bonuses, promotions and rewards such as a betfair no deposit bonus code.

West Ham

The Hammers are another top Premier League club who are sponsored by a well known bookmaker as they have a multi-million pound agreement with Betway. The sponsorship has been in place since 2015 making it one of the most long-standing partnerships in Europe. The agreement includes Betway having their logo on the front of West Ham kits and they would have been delighted to have seen the Londoners win the Europa Conference League last season.

Real Madrid

Arguably the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid have a huge following and the record European champions have some of the most powerful companies on the planet looking to partner with them. Gambling sites are no exception and Madrid have been partnered with Spanish gambling firm Codere since 2016 while SportyBet are also their official betting partner. Perhaps the most famous sponsorship deal was with Bwin that ran between 2007 and 2013 when several world class players donned a shirt with the Bwin logo on the front.

Everton

Everton have signed a sponsorship deal with Stake.com. The partnership wasn’t well received among the supporters but the club have extended the agreement – which began in 2017. With the deal reportedly worth in excess of £10m a year, it’s easy to see why Everton have joined a growing number of clubs in signing lucrative deals with gambling companies.

Stoke City

One of the most deep-rooted partnerships is Bet365’s sponsorship of Stoke City. The Coates family own both Bet365 and Stoke City, so the gambling firm is unsurprisingly the clubs exclusive betting sponsor. Stoke’s ground, the Bet365 Stadium, is named after the bookmaker while their logos are on the front of all club kits.

Other notable clubs

There are a number of other notable sponsorship agreements in place such as Fun88’s controversial partnership with Newcastle United, or W88’s sponsorship of Fulham. We also have SBOTOP and Leeds, DafaBet and Bournemouth, Sportsbet.io and Watford, AC Milan and Betsson, Crystal Palace and ManBetX….the list goes on.

Some Football Associations are trying to clamp down on the close relationship between gambling firms and football clubs, but until legislation comes in, the clubs are going to continue to enter into sponsorships with bookmakers due to the large sums of money being put on the table.