According to Bloomberg on September 7, English Premier League (EPL) clubs alone have signed record sponsorship deals worth $170 million with crypto companies for the 2024/25 season.
The rise comes amid tighter restrictions on gambling sponsorships, which have traditionally been a significant source of revenue for them.
According to the report, several leading clubs have already signed major deals with crypto companies. For example, the Kraken exchange sponsors Tottenham Hotspur (EPL), Atlético Madrid (Spain's La Liga), and RB Leipzig (German Bundesliga).
Meanwhile, in June 2023, reigning Premier League champions Manchester City extended their partnership with OKX for three years in a deal that will cost the platform $70 million.
Another crypto exchange, Crypto.com, is also heavily involved in football. The company, which owns the naming rights to the former Staples Center, home to the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, announced in August that it would sponsor the UEFA Champions League through 2027.
The influx of cryptocurrency sponsorships isn’t limited to the biggest leagues: Turkish club Galatasaray recently signed a two-season deal with blockchain analytics company Arkham Intelligence worth around $4 million, which will see the company’s logo appear on the sleeves of the team’s jerseys.
For Premier League clubs, these partnerships mark a significant shift in the sponsorship landscape, especially given the looming ban on gambling advertising on jerseys by mid-2026. That’s in addition to the 2019 ban on gambling advertising during match broadcasts.
For the 2023-24 season, eight teams had direct betting sponsors, collectively bringing in nearly $80 million a year.
However, according to Daniel McDonagh, a lawyer at UK law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, quoted by Bloomberg, cryptocurrency companies are now trying to fill the vacuum left by restrictions on gambling sponsorship.
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