What Are The Role Of Sponsors In Football

20/07/2021 Kayode Ogunbote Football 2

Sponsorship in football is generally the financial support for a club by external bodies – mainly companies- for the mutual benefit of both the club and the investors.

By virtue of the fact that sponsors invest money into a club or competition, they possess more power than most people realize and can make subtle decisions that affect them.

Players can be restricted on certain behaviours if they are seen to misrepresent or slightly harm the interests of the sponsors.

A widespread theory that the reason why removal of shirts by players when celebrating a goal was banned was due to sponsorship influence.

When players celebrate a goal and take off their shirts, it prevents fans from seeing the sponsors of the club and this is seen as a misrepresentation of sponsors interests.

Again this is a theory. Players can also promote or harm the interests of sponsors based on their behaviours. A player that plays for a club whose jerseys are made by Adidas should not be seen wearing boots or clothes by another brand as this could affect sales. Hence, the player is harming the interests of the sponsors.

A classic example happened at the recently concluded EURO 2020. Coke reportedly lost a whopping $4m just because one of the biggest names in football – Cristiano Ronaldo – removed one of their bottles and urged the audience to drink water instead.

This action was repeated by many other footballers before UEFA intervened to put a stop to it. This shows how investors would do anything to protect their interests.

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Sponsors and players and clubs have positive and negative effects on each other. Let’s look at some of the positive and negative impacts of sponsors in football.

Positive Impact

  • Investment is something every club desires. Major investments help in keeping clubs afloat. Money generated from sponsorship also helps in providing transfer funds for the clubs
  • Players receive benefits associated with the sponsors. Some players receive cars when a car company sponsors the competition they play in or clubs they play for. Others receive soft drinks, beverages etc. depending on the business of the sponsors.
  • They organise and sponsor events, hospitality, publicity etc.
  • They also help in talent discovery and promotion by sponsoring academy outings and scouts.

Negative impact

Sponsors also have some negative impacts on football. Some of them are:

  • Sponsors can be manipulative when they feel their interests are not being met. They tend to get their way since they pump in the money.
  • Sponsorship can be limited or easily revoked by sponsors without prior consultation.
  • Some sponsors give sports a bad image. This is a bit reduced in football because sponsors producing goods like cigarettes and alcohol have been almost entirely eradicated from modern-day football.
  • Richer clubs attract rich sponsors while clubs with limited financial ability are restricted to little sponsorships thus increasing the economic gaps between the “richer” and “poorer” clubs.
  • Players, teams or officials may be manipulated to suit sponsor interests.

Have you noticed any other impact of sponsors in football? If so, leave a comment.

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