Everton to terminate partnership with main shirt sponsor Sportpesa
Everton Football Club will end its partnership agreement with main shirt sponsor SportPesa at the end of the current season, the Premier League club has announced.
The gaming brand, which has been Everton’s main partner since 2017, has agreed to the termination of its contract.
The agreement has been reached following a comprehensive review by the club of its commercial strategy in line with its vision and future growth plans.
A club spokesperson said: “This has been a difficult decision but one that allows us to best deliver on our commercial plan and to grasp the new opportunities now open to us.
“The club would like to thank SportPesa for all of the work that has been done together.”
Sportpesa is registered in the Isle of Man, but has strong links with the African continent, where Everton have arranged pre-season friendlies for the past two seasons.
The club spokesperson said: “Our partnership has seen our first team visit Africa on two occasions, as well as former players and club staff take part in numerous activations in the region.
“This has allowed us to grow our own footprint in Africa and further strengthen our special relationship with the continent.”
Everton will appoint a new main partner ahead of the start of the 2020/21 season.
There was disquiet in some quarters from some Blues fans over the club’s main shirt sponsor as resistance throughout the game to widespread links with the betting industry became stronger.
Speculation is now growing that billionaire Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov could increase his financial support of the Merseyside club.
Mr Usmanov is business partner and close personal friend to Everton’s majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri.
He owns 49% of USM Holding company, a Russia-based investment group that controls Metalloinvest, Russia’s largest iron ore producer, and MegaFon, a telecommunications company.
He has also acquired stakes in Alibaba, Airbnb, JD.Com and Spotify, and controls Kommersant, a Russian newspaper.
Mr Usmanov already sponsors the club’s Finch Farm training ground through his USM brand, and earlier this month MegaFon branding was added to the exterior of Goodison Park’s Sir Philip Carter Park End.
USM has also paid £30m for an option that enables it to enter into a naming rights contract for Everton’s proposed new stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock at a pre-agreed annual value and term.
