More and more companies from the blockchain industry detect sports sponsorship as a valuable marketing platform. Nevertheless, automotive, tech and airline companies invest nearly one third of total volume for jersey sponsorships. These are key results of the annual European Football Jersey Report, which Nielsen Sports analyses for the top six European football leagues.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, jersey brandings become more valuable from year to year. If revenues were nevertheless able to increase by 3.8 % in last year’s COVID-19 year, this year’s revenues increase again by around 6.1 % to a total of EUR 1.56 bn. Especially the value of top club rights increases with a contract renewal or a new partner.

While this system is dominated by investments from airlines, technology companies and automobile manufacturers (35% of total volume), a rapid emergence of the blockchain industry is evident. Many new deals were closed for 2021/22, the main partnership between Internazionale Milano and Socios being the most valuable. This development will be particularly relevant for the Premier League, where a possible ban on betting providers on jersey brandings is currently being discussed (currently 12 % of total revenues). The industry thus has an opportunity to position itself for the future.

Nielsen’s European Football Jersey Report provides in-depth sponsorship data across all the top European leagues, including English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Spanish LaLiga, Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, and Dutch Eredivisie. All league analysis includes market prices, historical comparisons, brand category growth trends, and league & team benchmarking.