Issue 39 - Front Of Shirt

Want to sponsor your local Premier League club? You may need deep pockets but you may never have a better opportunity. This and UEFA’s thinking goes into overdrive. Issue 39. Go.

Finding A Sponsor

For those who keep a keen eye on the Premier League, you will be aware that betting logos are front and centre when it comes to sponsorship. Not only are they on the prime real estate of football fabric but they also adorn perimeter barriers in the ground.

Add that to the adverts you see online and on television and it is fair to say that the Premier League has a rather symbiotic relationship with all things punting. A relationship that soon comes to an end.

Because from next season, betting companies will no longer allowed to be the primary sponsor of the 20 teams that ply their trade in the English top tier - an issue that will mean 11 clubs will have to make a change at the end of the season.

Now whether you think betting logos are a scourge or just part and parcel of the modern game that we find ourselves in is a different debate. Today’s debate boils down to the summer gold rush of 2026 and not necessarily enough gold to go around.

To put this in further context, this is the industry split of Premier League club sponsors for the 2025/26 season:

55% of the Premier League clubs that are currently have the division have a betting sponsor

5% of the Premier League clubs have no sponsor at all (that being Chelsea)

Even if we allow for one or two of these betting backed clubs to be relegated, we are looking at 50% of the division all looking for new sponsors in the summer.

The big question is what industry or industries will they come from?

Alcohol - No

Smoking - No Chance

None of the ‘vice’ industries will be allowed to stamp their logo, so does the Premier League now look further to finance in a bid to finance its own future deals?

If you were to pick five industries that could step into the void, here are the most likely examples:

A lot of major players in major industry but would all of them want to get involved with a Premier League club?

Would there be a sense of desperation for those clubs looking to change sponsors because of enforced change. Does that then drive sponsorship values down in what would definitely a buyers market.

At the same time, we must not forget that any Premier League club is far from a charity case and if anything, this may end up being a logical solution when it comes to who gets their logo front and centre.

As we have seen in the past, Premier League clubs have decided to forego any sponsorship money and instead partner with a charity. Take Aston Villa’s Acorns partnership as an example of how the space can be used for greater good.

Of course, the space may not be used at all and with Chelsea still searching for a partner that perceives the club at the correct value, their blank shirts continue to be an outlier for the division.

But for how long?

Where the teams on the field of play dictate who is higher or lower in the table, it will soon be down to the marketing teams to flex their muscle. A new sponsorship landscape is coming but nobody quite knows what it will look like in 12 months time.

Then And Now

Another thing to consider is how sponsors reflect the world at the time and a good way to measure how life and the Premier League as a whole has changed, is by comparing sponsors from 1992 to now.

Whereas Electronics and Alcohol were the dominant industries more than 30 years ago, we can see a rather seismic shift from one generation to the next.

Electronics brands such as JVC and Sharp believed they extracted the maximum value from the sponsorships of Arsenal and Manchester United and would eventually be replaced by the likes of Sega and Vodafone.

Whereas Alcohol sponsorships were outlawed and although there was probably the same level of concern when this industry was blacklisted, the pricing of a main sponsor was not yet the barrier to entry that is now.

As the Premier League enters a post-betting era, clubs, brands, and fans alike will be watching closely. The next generation of sponsorships may well reshape not just the shirts, but the very identity of the league itself.

Watch this space on their collective space.

The International Qualifying Issue

As more nations book their flights to next summer’s FIFA World Cup, the question regarding the viability of qualifying tournaments has once again come to the fore and with the current cycle in Europe being as it is, this may be for good reason.

Whereas the likes of Cape Verde and Uzbekistan’s arrival to the biggest party has created interesting talking points, the status quo is largely the same back home and as a consequence, interest in an already maligned process is waning further.

Not only, do results largely go to to form (bar maybe the exception of Sweden’s terrible qualfication bid), but the actual qualification process has become far too confusing with play-off berths being allocated for a number of different criteria.

It is hard to follow, it is also largely hard to care about and thankfully, the penny has finally dropped in UEFA’s headquarters (the reason that they are receiving less pennies in broadcasting revenue is the main reason) to the point where change could be afoot.

What It Looks Like

There are believed to be two different formats that could replace the double round-robin qualification format that has been in place since time began.

Option 1 - The Nations League

Instead of what we see now in terms of qualifiers, the current Nations League divisions would be given further prominence and would act as the method for both European Championships and World Cup qualifications.

In theory, this could work but it would only close off competition between nations. For example, a Division D team such as San Marino could not play England and earn some much needed revenue.

So for this reason, it is not ideal but still arguably better than what is currently in place.

Option 2 - The Swiss Model

The other option would be to generate a 55-nation table in a similar vein to what we now see in UEFA’s club competitions.

For example, England could play two top seeded teams, then two nations from the second pot and so on. Eight international qualifiers in a similar difficulty spread to the Champions League, where every game seems to matter more.

This way, we would be treated to a number of qualification blockbusters without the overall risk of the big nations missing out completely and think of the madness that a 55-nation table could generate on the final round of fixtures.

Therefore, an England World Cup qualification schedule could look like:

Spain (H)
Netherlands (A)
Hungary (H)
Switzerland (A)
Iceland (H)
Albania (A)
Azerbaijan (H)
Malta (A)

Come on UEFA, lets make it so.

The Filter Five

Five is the magic number

Taking Centre Stage

In the previous issue of the Real Football Filter, I referenced UEFA’s plan to sell their Champions League rights on a global basis. As always, the plan is to extract maximum value and to do that, you need to find new ways to sell the same product.

Which is where UEFA’s latest brainchild comes to the fore. Instead of the opening Matchday being played with six matches per night, the defending champions (and their opponents) get the opening night all to themselves.

Does this tie in with the best pick of the Matchday in terms of how the global rights are sold? Probably.

Does anyone think this is a good idea outside of UEFA? Probably not.

No Rangers Manager

In that same previous issue, I referenced that Steven Gerrard was set to return to Ibrox as Rangers manager. Restart the band I called it. One slight problem in all of this, turns out the rehearsals did not go to plan.

The former Liverpool midfielder has decided against his return. The feeling is that the same power afforded to him behind the scenes last time would not be available under current ownership.

A different hierarchy now with the San Francisco 49ers at the helm and they may have to wait as many as 49 days if they are to get their hands on their new number 1 target Kevin Muscat.

The Australian who formerly played for Rangers wants to at least see the Chinese Super League season through to its upcoming conclusion. Barry Ferguson may once again have to be on speed dial in the interim.

Not Bright Anymore

Millie Bright is the latest of England’s Lionesses to call it a day at international level. Not quite the shock when measured against Mary Earps’ departure earlier in the year and far better timing with it being post European Championships.

You never quite know how much is the player’s decision or whether the decision has been made for them. Manager Sarina Wiegman stated she wanted Bright in her squad for the 2027 World Cup qualification cycle, so this time around you cannot say it is sour grapes from a players’ perspective.

With Bright’s Chelsea career continuing, it looks as if the decision has been as simple as a club vs country dilemma and once again, it is the club that comes out on top.

Sky High Romero

Talking of club versus country rows, Tottenham have managed to avoid one with Cristian Romero. The Argentine has had a private charter flight paid for him to bring him back from international duty in good time.

You wouldn’t have got that under Daniel Levy!

First Round Draw

The FA Cup First Round draw took place on Monday to little fanfare.

The reason being that it was behind the TNT Sports paywall.

I understand that for the simple reason that they are now the primary rights holder for the competition but it was surprising not to also see it on the BBC.

Then again, they’d only shoehorn it into an episode of The One Show with Alex Jones and Ronan Kemp, so maybe it was not worth the bother.

Admin

Right, that’s the end of issue 39 as word continues to spread around the football world.

If you liked issue 38, tell a friend and forward it on. If you didn’t like issue 38 please tell me why.

We are now edging closer towards 70 subs as the momentum continues. New squad members are always welcome on board.

Send your thoughts in, not only of the newsletter but of the game itself. It’s all about building a community you see.

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Issue 40 will be out on Friday October 17th

Thanks for reading

Dan