Aston Villa and Online Bookmaker Betano Reach Jersey Sponsorship Agreement

Aston Villa F.C. have made increasing commercial revenue a top focus as they look to maintain their Champions League aspirations.

With Betano, a Greek online sports betting company, Aston Villa have secured the largest shirt front sponsorship in the club’s history. The Athens-headquartered platform, who’s quickly gaining popularity, partly thanks to a significant amount of activity on YouTube, and became one of the trending bookmakers with iOS apps (mobile betting apps in general) in February will pay £20 million a year for two years starting next season.

Under manager Unai Emery, the English men’s football team is aiming to qualify for the Champions League, and they want to increase their commercial earnings. It’s estimated that the Betano deal is worth more than twice as much as the Premier League side’s existing agreement with Chinese online betting company BK8.

Nassef Sawiris, the club’s billionaire owner, and Wes Edens, his co-owner, have been keen to use the club’s commercial prowess to bring in the money needed to keep the Birmingham-based team competitive. At present, they hold the fourth position in the Premier League and are well positioned to secure one of the five spots in the Champions League reserved for English clubs in the upcoming season, under the recently modified 36-team structure.

Villa – Betano Deal Stands Until Premier League’s Ban of Use of Betting Operators on Jerseys Comes into Effect

Betting Operators on Jerseys Comes into Effect

The cooperation between Villa and Betano will last until the ban on the use of betting operators, just like in the case of many other English elite division clubs who find online sports betting to be a good source of income in the form of jersey sponsorships, as title partners come into force in the Premier League.

As the first sports league in the UK to voluntarily take such a step to eliminate gambling advertising, Premier League teams decided together in April of last year to remove gambling sponsorship off the front of clubs’ matchday shirts. The collective agreement will begin at the end of the 2025–26 season.

Betano, one of the two brands that operate under the Greek parent company Kaizen Gaming, has also become the official betting partner of the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship.