The Premier League is entering a new commercial era. As gambling companies begin to disappear from the front of Premier League shirts, clubs are looking beyond the traditional betting industry for the next generation of sponsors. Fintech companies, artificial intelligence firms, software businesses and sovereign-backed organisations are increasingly moving into football, bringing with them a very different sponsorship landscape.
A new report from Nielsen suggests that this change could be much bigger than a simple reshuffling of logos on football shirts. It could reshape the relationship between clubs, brands and supporters, particularly because football fans are among the most receptive audiences to sports sponsorship.
The Premier League’s collective decision in 2023 to end front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships takes effect from the beginning of the 2026-27 season. While the ban does not currently cover shirt sleeves or training kits, clubs are already looking towards other industries to fill the commercial space.
Nielsen believes the shift could eventually lead to a “Tech Gold Rush”, with software infrastructure companies potentially becoming the dominant front-of-shirt sponsorship category by 2028.
Football Has an Advertising Advantage
Football’s commercial appeal begins with its enormous global following.
According to Nielsen’s data, 51 per cent of people globally identify themselves as football fans. That places football comfortably ahead of basketball, which has 42 per cent global fandom, and swimming at 39 per cent.
The numbers become even more striking in individual markets.
Mexico has a football fandom rate of 64 per cent, while Saudi Arabia stands at 62 per cent. Spain records 59 per cent, the UK and Italy 56 per cent each, India 55 per cent, South Korea 53 per cent and Germany 51 per cent.
Brazil, one of football’s biggest markets, reaches an even higher 75 per cent.
Even markets where football has a lower percentage of overall fandom can provide enormous commercial audiences because of their population size. Nielsen notes that the United States has the fourth-largest football fanbase globally despite only 27 per cent of its population identifying as football fans. That translates into approximately 62 million people, around twice the size of some major European football audiences.
For brands, that scale makes football difficult to ignore.
Why Football Fans Respond Differently to Sponsors
The most important finding for brands may not simply be the number of football supporters, but how those supporters respond to sponsorship.
Nielsen found that 67 per cent of global football fans consider brands sponsoring their favourite competitions more appealing. The corresponding figure among the general population is 54 per cent.
That gap matters.
A sponsorship is not simply another advertisement placed in front of a football supporter. When a brand becomes associated with a competition, club or team that a fan already cares about, the commercial message can become part of the overall sporting experience.
A shirt sponsor is visible every time a supporter watches a match. A competition partner can appear throughout a tournament. Stadium advertising, digital campaigns, player activations and social media content can reinforce that association.
Over time, the brand can become familiar to the supporter without necessarily feeling like a conventional advertisement.
Trust Can Become Part of the Sponsorship
Nielsen’s findings also point towards another important advantage.
Football fans are more likely to associate sponsorship with positive characteristics such as trustworthiness and social responsibility.
That creates an opportunity for companies entering football from industries that may not traditionally have strong consumer recognition.
For an emerging fintech or technology company, for example, partnering with a globally recognised football club can provide credibility that would otherwise take years to build.
Andy Milnes, Nielsen’s market lead for sports in Britain and Ireland, said sponsorship is increasingly being used by challenger companies in sectors such as fintech and AI to establish global credibility.
The logic is straightforward: a relatively unfamiliar company enters an environment where millions of people already have strong emotional connections.
The club provides the platform. The fan provides the attention.
The New Premier League Sponsorship Race
The changing Premier League landscape is already providing examples of this transition.
Crystal Palace’s partnership with AI and enterprise technology company Temporal, Aston Villa’s agreement with Visit Rwanda and Everton’s deal with financial services company CMC Markets illustrate the increasingly varied industries entering the front-of-shirt space.
These deals represent a shift away from the dominance of gambling brands and towards businesses that want to use football as a global marketing platform.
Nielsen expects software infrastructure companies to potentially become the leading front-of-shirt sponsorship category by 2028.
That could mean that the next generation of Premier League shirts will carry fewer betting logos and more names associated with cloud technology, artificial intelligence, financial platforms and other digital industries.
How Fans Can Benefit
For supporters, sponsorship is not necessarily a one-way relationship in which brands simply gain exposure.
When partnerships are structured effectively, fans can also benefit from the money and resources flowing into the sport.
A successful sponsorship can provide clubs with additional commercial revenue, which can in turn support investment in players, academies, training facilities, women’s football, community programmes and digital services.
Technology partnerships can have an even more direct impact.
An AI or software company working with a club can potentially introduce new digital experiences, data-driven fan engagement tools and improved online services. Financial companies may develop supporter-focused products or experiences around clubs and competitions.
The exact benefits will depend on individual partnerships, but the broader principle is clear: commercial investment can help expand the resources available to the sport.
Sponsorship Can Make Fans More Engaged
The relationship can also work at an emotional level.
Nielsen found that football fans are particularly receptive to companies involved in sports sponsorship. They are more likely to remember companies associated with things they are interested in than companies encountered through traditional outdoor advertising.
That creates a different kind of advertising relationship.
A billboard may be seen for a few seconds while a person is travelling somewhere. A football sponsor can remain visible for an entire match, across highlights, social media posts, interviews, merchandise and discussions among supporters.
For a highly engaged football fan, the exposure can be repeated week after week.
That repetition, combined with an emotional connection to the sport, can make sponsorship considerably more memorable.
But Sponsorship Is Not a Guarantee of Goodwill
The strength of the relationship also creates a responsibility for clubs and brands.
Fans may be receptive to sponsorship, but that does not mean they will automatically approve every partnership.
A sponsorship can become controversial if supporters believe the company does not align with the values of the club or the wider community. Aston Villa’s agreement with Visit Rwanda, for instance, has already attracted criticism.
This is particularly important as the Premier League moves beyond gambling sponsors.
Replacing one controversial category with another will not solve the underlying issue. Clubs need to consider not just how much a sponsor is willing to pay, but what the association means for supporters.
The strongest partnerships are likely to be those where the commercial relationship feels credible to the audience.
The End of the Betting Era?
The departure of gambling companies from Premier League front-of-shirt sponsorship marks the end of an era, but it does not mean the commercial influence of sponsors is disappearing.
Instead, football appears to be entering a more diverse phase.
Technology, fintech, AI and sovereign-backed organisations are competing for the same highly valuable audience that betting companies previously targeted.
And the reason is clear: football fans are not passive consumers.
They follow clubs intensely, identify emotionally with teams and competitions, and pay attention to the companies that become part of that ecosystem.
For brands, that makes football one of the world’s most powerful commercial platforms.
For clubs, it creates an opportunity to diversify their revenues.
And for fans, the next sponsorship era could bring something more valuable than a new logo on a shirt, provided clubs choose partners capable of investing in the sport, its communities and the supporters who make it commercially attractive in the first place.
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