TLDR
- Premier League clubs have agreed to end gambling logos on the front of match shirts starting this season.
- Eight clubs needed new shirt sponsors, and Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, and Chelsea are still without long term deals.
- Technology and finance companies are filling many of the open sponsorship spots.
- Crypto companies like BingX and OKX have moved into sleeve and secondary positions on some shirts.
- Gambling brands have not disappeared completely, many have simply shifted to sleeves or training wear.
Gambling logos are disappearing from the front of Premier League shirts this season. For years, betting brands were a common sight on match day.
In each of the past two seasons, 11 of the 20 clubs carried gambling or casino branding on their shirts. Now clubs have agreed to end those front of shirt deals.
Eight teams needed to find new sponsors this summer. Not all of them succeeded.
Nottingham Forest and Sunderland are still playing without a confirmed shirt sponsor. Chelsea has also struggled to lock in a long term partner, despite trying to use its Club World Cup win to boost its value.
Technology and Finance Fill the Gap
Clubs are turning to different industries to replace the money that gambling companies used to provide. Technology firms are one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Crystal Palace has partnered with Temporal, and Fulham has signed with ClickHouse. Ipswich and Manchester United are also bringing technology sponsors onto their shirts this season.
Finance companies are showing up just as often. Five of the 17 clubs with confirmed sponsors now come from the finance sector, including Everton’s deal with CMC Markets.
Insurance, tourism, and recruitment companies are also picking up sponsorship spots once held by betting firms.
This shift is a return to an older pattern in some ways. Technology brands like JVC, Panasonic, and Sharp were common on shirts back in the early days of the Premier League.
But the sponsorship market looks very different today. Only four current clubs have sponsors based in the United Kingdom, while most sponsorship deals decades ago involved local or regional companies.
Premier League commercial revenue has grown from 58 million pounds to 2.4 billion pounds in the 2024-25 season. That growth explains why shirt sponsorship spots are worth so much more today than they used to be.
Crypto Companies Take New Positions
While gambling brands are leaving the front of shirts, some are simply relocating. Betano has moved from the front of Aston Villa’s shirt to the sleeve. Everton has done the same with its Stake.com partnership.
Crypto companies are also stepping into these secondary spots. Chelsea has signed a sleeve deal with BingX, and Manchester City has an agreement with OKX.
The Financial Conduct Authority has already issued a warning to clubs about sponsorship deals involving unauthorized financial firms. That warning covers some of the crypto partnerships forming across the league.
Manchester United’s training kit deal with Betway shows how valuable these secondary positions remain. That deal is reportedly worth up to 20 million pounds a year, more than some clubs earn from their main shirt sponsor.
Only five Premier League clubs now have gambling logos anywhere on their kit this season. That is a sharp drop from previous years.
The front of the shirt is currently held by technology, finance, and a small number of other industries. Crypto companies remain positioned in sleeve deals for now, and clubs will be watching to see if that changes in future seasons.
