Sponsorship, explained

In one lineA sponsor pays to be linked with a club or competition, and the deal is worth what the brand’s audience sees, who that audience is, and what the brand does with it.

What sponsorship is

Sponsorship is a commercial deal in which a company pays a club, league or competition in return for rights. The money can be cash, or goods and services, such as kit or travel.

The rights are written into a contract. They usually include:

• placing the brand’s logo in agreed spots, such as the shirt or the stadium;
• using the club’s name, crest or players in the brand’s own advertising;
• tickets and hospitality for the sponsor’s guests and customers;
• content, such as behind-the-scenes video or social media posts.

Sponsorship sits inside a club’s commercial revenue, together with merchandising and other commercial activity. For the 20 highest-earning clubs in Deloitte’s 2026 ranking, commercial income was the largest of the three main income streams for the third year running.

The main types of deal

Shirt front

The front-of-shirt sponsor, often called the main partner, has the most visible spot a club can sell. It appears in every match photo, broadcast and highlight clip.

Sleeve

A second logo on the shirt sleeve. In the Premier League, sleeve sponsors were first allowed from the 2017/18 season, on the left sleeve only, with the League’s own badge kept on the other sleeve.

Kit supplier

The kit supplier, also called the technical partner, makes the playing kit and the replica shirts fans buy. Its logo appears on the kit itself. Deals can combine a fixed fee with payments linked to how many shirts are sold.

Training kit

Many clubs sell a separate sponsorship for training wear. Because training and warm-ups appear in club videos and pre-match coverage, this has become a spot of its own.

Naming rights

Naming rights let a brand put its name on a stadium, a stand or a training ground. These deals often run for many years.

Official partners

Beyond the kit, clubs sign partners by category: an official airline, bank, drinks brand or technology partner. The key right is often exclusivity: no rival brand in that category can sign with the club.

Competition sponsors

Leagues and tournaments sell their own sponsorship, separate from the clubs. A competition sponsor is linked to every match, not to one team. At UEFA Champions League matches, for example, the home club must supply the pitch-side LED advertising boards free of charge, and UEFA, or a company acting for it, operates them.

How value is judged

There is no single price list. Buyers and sellers usually weigh four things.

1. Exposure. How often, how long and how clearly the brand is seen: in the stadium, on live TV, in highlights and in social media clips. Some measurement firms put a figure on this by estimating what the same airtime would cost as advertising.
2. Audience. How many people see the brand, and who they are. A brand selling in Asia cares about viewers in Asia. A local business may care only about the club’s home region.
3. Activation. What the sponsor does with its rights. Buying a logo spot is only the start; see below.
4. Fit and risk. Whether the brand and the club suit each other, and whether rules, or public opinion, might limit the deal later.

Contracts also set length, bonuses and exits. A deal may pay more if the club qualifies for Europe, and include clauses allowing either side to end it early.

Activation: making the deal work

Activation means the campaigns and experiences a sponsor builds around its rights. Without it, a logo is just a logo. Some examples in the abstract:

• A bank sponsor offers fans a card that comes with early access to tickets.
• An airline sponsor runs a competition to fly supporters to an away match.
• A technology partner produces behind-the-scenes content from the training ground.
• A drinks partner creates a matchday fan zone outside the stadium.
• A sponsor co-funds the club’s community programme and tells that story in its advertising.

Activation aims to connect the brand with something fans value. Without it, what the sponsor gets back rests on exposure alone.

Betting sponsorship: the rules are tightening

Betting companies have been large football sponsors. Some countries and leagues now restrict them. Two examples show different approaches: one by law, one by voluntary agreement.

Spain: a legal restriction

Spain regulates gambling advertising through Royal Decree 958/2020 of 3 November on commercial communications for gambling. Its Article 12 sets the sponsorship rules:

• No gambling sponsorship on shirts or sports kit.
• No naming a sports venue after a gambling operator.
• No adding an operator’s name to the name of a team or competition.
• Sponsorship messages shown inside stadiums must follow the same time limits and requirements that the decree sets for gambling adverts on audiovisual services such as television.

Sponsorship contracts signed before the decree had to be brought into line with it before 31 August 2021.

In April 2024 Spain’s Supreme Court annulled several other parts of the decree, including rules on promotions for new customers and on famous people appearing in gambling adverts. Article 12 remains in force in the consolidated text published by the official state gazette, the BOE.

England: a voluntary withdrawal

On 13 April 2023, Premier League clubs agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts. The change applies from the end of the 2025/26 season, so from 2026/27 onwards. The League described itself as the first sports league in the UK to take such a step voluntarily.

The agreement covers only the front of the matchday shirt. Reporting at the time said gambling brands could still appear elsewhere, for example on sleeves and advertising boards. The League also said it was working with other sports on a new code for responsible gambling sponsorship.

Where to go next

• How clubs make money places sponsorship inside commercial income.
• TV rights, explained covers the broadcasts that give sponsors their exposure.
• Football’s spending rules shows why commercial income matters for how much a club may spend.