English football sponsorship

Corporate sponsorship of major English football competitions dates back to the early 1980s, although minor competitions such as the Watney Cup and Texaco Cup were sponsored during the early 1970s.

Sponsorship deals

The first tournament for English Football League clubs to sell its naming rights was the Watney Cup, sponsored by brewer Watney Mann which was played from 1970 to 1973.[1]

The 1970-71 season saw the Ford Sporting League, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, take place for the first and only time, and also the start of the Texaco Cup (sponsored by Texaco) which was played until 1975.[2]

The first major English competition to negotiate a sponsorship deal was the League Cup, negotiating a £2 million deal in 1982 with the National Dairy Council.[3][2] It became known as the "Milk Cup" and has since adopted the name of its sponsors in this same way.[4]

The following season in 1983 the Football League negotiated a sponsorship deal with Canon worth £3.3 million over 3 years.[2] Since the formation of the breakaway Premier League in 1992, the competition has struck up its own sponsorship deals separately from the Football League (though it was unsponsored in its first season after a $17.1 million agreement with Bass Brewery was vetoed by Arsenal, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest[5]).

The last major English competition to negotiate a sponsorship deal was in fact its oldest, the FA Cup. The competition was sponsored by Littlewoods for four seasons, starting in 1994 in a deal with £14 million.[6][2] In 1998, AXA Insurance started their sponsorship of the competition for four seasons.[2][7] It was always carefully named, being the "AXA-sponsored FA Cup", or the "FA Cup sponsored by AXA", and never the "AXA Cup". From 2002–03 through 2005–06, the FA Cup did not have a dedicated sponsor, but instead shared the team of sponsors of The Football Association.[8][9] From 2006 to 2011, the FA Cup was known as "The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON" due to a deal with energy company E.ON.[10] From the 2011–12 season to the 2013–14 season, the FA Cup was sponsored by Budweiser Beer and known as the FA Cup with Budweiser.[11]

Summary of competition sponsorship deals
Season Premier League English Football League National League FA Cup FA Community Shield EFL Cup EFL Trophy
1982–83 Did not exist No sponsor No sponsor No sponsor No sponsor Milk Marketing Board
(Milk Cup)[4]		 No sponsor
1983–84 Canon
(Canon League)
1984–85 Gola
(Gola League)		 General Motors
(1984:
FA Charity Shield sponsored by General Motors)
(1985–1987:
General Motors FA Charity Shield)		 Freight Rover
(Freight Rover Trophy)
1985–86
1986–87 Today
(Today League)		 General Motors
(GM Vauxhall Conference)		 Littlewoods
(Littlewoods Challenge Cup)[4]
1987–88 Barclays
(Barclays League)		 Sherpa Van
(Sherpa Van Trophy)
1988–89 No sponsor
1989–90 Wellpark Brewery
(Tennent's FA Charity Shield)		 Leyland DAF
(Leyland DAF Cup)
1990–91 Rumbelows
(Rumbelows Cup)[4]
1991–92 Autoglass
(Autoglass Trophy)
1992–93 No sponsor Coca-Cola
(Coca-Cola Cup)[12]
1993–94 Carling Brewery
(FA Carling Premiership)[13][14]		 Endsleigh
(Endsleigh League)[15]		 No sponsor
1994–95 Littlewoods
(FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods)[6]		 Auto Windscreens
(Auto Windscreens Shield)
1995–96 Littlewoods
(1995:
Littlewoods Pools FA Charity Shield)
(1996–1997:
Littlewoods FA Charity Shield)
1996–97 Nationwide
(Nationwide Football League)
1997–98
1998–99 Nationwide
(Nationwide Conference)[16]		 AXA
(AXA-Sponsored FA Cup)[7]		 AXA
(AXA FA Charity Shield)		 Worthington Brewery
(Worthington Cup)[17]
1999–2000 One2One
(One2One FA Charity Shield)
2000–01 LDV Vans
(LDV Vans Trophy)[18]
2001–02 Barclaycard
(FA Barclaycard Premiership)[14][19]
2002–03 No sponsor McDonald's
(2002–2006:
The FA Community Shield in partnership with McDonald's)
(2007–2013:
The FA Community Shield sponsored by McDonald's)
(2014–2019:
The FA Community Shield supported by McDonald's)
2003–04 Carling Brewery
(Carling Cup)[20]
2004–05 Barclays
(2004–07:
FA Barclays Premiership)
(2007–16:
Barclays Premier League)[14][14][21][22][23]		 Coca-Cola
(Coca-Cola Football League)[24][25]
2005–06 No sponsor
2006–07 E.ON
(The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON)[10][26]		 Johnstone's Paint
(Johnstone's Paint Trophy)[27][28][29]
2007–08 Blue Square
(2007–10:
Blue Square Premier
Blue Square North
Blue Square South)
(2010–13:
Blue Square Bet Premier
Blue Square Bet North
Blue Square Bet South)[30][31][32]
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11 npower
(npower Football League)[33][34]
2011–12 Budweiser
(The FA Cup with Budweiser)[11]
2012–13 Capital One
(Capital One Cup)[35]
2013–14 Sky Bet
(2013–16:
Sky Bet Football League)[36]
(2016–24:
Sky Bet EFL)[37]		 Skrill
(The Skrill Premier
The Skrill North
The Skrill South)[38][39]
2014–15 Autorama Group
(2014–15:
Vanarama Conference)
(2015–22:
Vanarama National League)[40]		 No sponsor
2015–16 Emirates
(The Emirates FA Cup)[41]
Heads Up
(2020 Heads Up FA Cup Final)[42]
2016–17 No sponsor[43] No sponsor Checkatrade
(Checkatrade Trophy)[44]
2017–18 Carabao Energy Drink
(Carabao Cup)[45][46]
2018–19
2019–20 Leasing.com
(Leasing.com Trophy)[47]
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24

Summary of front of shirt sponsorship deals

Shirt sponsorship in English football clubs was first pioneered by the non-league club Kettering Town F.C. in 1976, and this practice then spread to the major clubs.[48]

The first English club to secure a sponsorship deal was Derby County, they only wore the football tops featuring the Saab sponsor once for a photo shoot.

Issues arose with teams wearing sponsored shirts in the early 1980s.[2] The scheduled broadcast of a match between Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion on 22 October 1980 was cancelled as both teams refused to play without sponsors on their shirts.[49] Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers were fined £1,000 for wearing shirts with advertising in FA Cup games in January 1981.[49] Nottingham Forest were fined £7,000 by UEFA for a similar offence in February 1981.[49]

By 1987, every league club had a shirt sponsorship deal.[2]

Club Sponsor Start date End date Amount Per year
ArsenalFly Emirates20192024£200m£40m[50]
Man UnitedChevrolet20142021£371m£47m
LiverpoolStandard Chartered20192023£160m£40m[51]
Aston VillaGenting Casino20112013£16m£8m
ChelseaYokohama Tyres20152020£200m£40m
EvertonSportpesa20172019£19.2m£9.6m
FulhamFxPro20102013£12.6m£4.2m
Man CityEtihad Airways20122022£210m£45m
NewcastleFun8820172020£24m£8m
NorwichAviva20122016£4m£1m
QPRAirAsia20112013£5m£2.5m
ReadingWaitrose20082013£2.5m£0.5m
SouthamptonVirgin Media20112014£3m£1m
Stoke CityBet36520122015£3.9m£1.3m
SunderlandDafabet20122014£40m£20m
SwanseaLETOU20092013£5.5m£1.1m
TottenhamAIA20192027£320m£40m
West BromZoopla20122015£4.5m£1.5m
West HamBetway20082013£10.5m£1.7m
WatfordSportsbet.io20192022£m£m[52]

[53]

Summary of kit manufacturer deals
Club End date Per year Manufacturer
Man United2025£75mAdidas[54]
Arsenal2024£60mAdidas[55]
Chelsea2032£60mNike[56]
Liverpool2020£45mNew Balance[54]
Tottenham2033£30mNike[57]
Man City2029£65mPuma[54]
Everton2019£6mUmbro

References
  1. Ballard, John; Suff, Paul (1999). World Soccer The Dictionary of Football. Boxtree Ltd. p. 635. ISBN 0-7522-2434-4.
  2. Ballard, John; Suff, Paul (1999). World Soccer The Dictionary of Football. Boxtree Ltd. pp. 556–7. ISBN 0-7522-2434-4.
  3. Nawrat, Chris; Hutchings, Steve (1995). The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football. Reed International Books Ltd. p. 245. ISBN 1-85613-847-X.
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  6. "F.A. Cup Soccer Gets A Sponsor". New York Times. 2 September 1994. Retrieved 13 August 2006.
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  9. Tongue, Steve (29 September 2001). "Sponsor's fury over FA Cup". The Independent. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
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  12. "Football: Coca-Cola sign Cup deal". The Independent. London. 1 August 1992. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
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  17. Bond, David (3 April 2002). "Worthington to end Cup sponsorship". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  18. "Three More Years for the LDV Vans Trophy". chesterfield-fc.co.uk. Chesterfield F.C. 17 November 2004. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  19. "Barclaycard to back Premier League". BBC Sport. 30 April 2001. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
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  40. "National League Title Sponsorship Rebrand Announced". National League. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
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