In an age of financial fair play and Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR), it has been vital for Premier League clubs to make as much money off the pitch as they can in order to supplement their investment in the players and coaches they deploy on the pitch.
One of the main avenues for making money in football is through commercial revenue, a broad term that incorporates the various sponsorship deals that a club will pen. Of these, the front of shirt sponsorship agreement is one of the most lucrative, with scores of big brands and companies from around the world desperate to tap into the Premier League’s mammoth global audience – more than 1.8 billion people, it’s reported, have some kind of interest in the English top flight.
These sorts of deals can come and go from one season to the next, but some continue to enjoy tremendous longevity – with the current longest shirt sponsorship agreement in the EPL closing in on 20 years of partnership. So, what are the longest running shirt sponsorship deals in the Premier League at the time of writing?
#5 – West Ham & Betway (2015)
The 2025/26 season will mark the ten-year anniversary of Betway’s sponsorship of West Ham. The British gambling firm, founded in 2006, first put pen to paper on a deal with the Hammers in 2015, which was thought to be worth £6 million a season at the time – a club record. An extension penned in 2019 is said to have increased those terms to £10 million per campaign; bringing it into line with some of the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deals in EPL history.
How much longer the partnership between West Ham and Betway will continue to run remains to be seen. As of the 2026/27 season, Premier League clubs will voluntarily end all front-of-shirt sponsorships with gambling companies, although it’s expected that they will still be able to advertise on shirt sleeves and on advertising hoardings around the pitch.
As of the 2024/25 season, eleven of the 20 Premier League clubs were sponsored by a betting operator, including Aston Villa (Betano), Crystal Palace (NET88) and Nottingham Forest (Kaiyun Sports). This sponsorship is often combined with branded advertising campaigns that pitch free casino games and betting promotions to fans of the teams.
#4 – Brighton & American Express and Tottenham & AIA (2013)
There’s a tie in fourth place of our rundown of the longest running Premier League shirt sponsorships, with Brighton penning their deal with American Express – and Tottenham signing on the dotted line with AIA – in 2013. Technically, Brighton’s partnership with the financial services provider got underway in 2010, however that contract was only for the naming rights to the club’s new home ground. That was opened in 2011 as the Amex Stadium.
The kinship between the Seagulls and American Express was cemented in 2013 when the firm took over the front-of-shirt sponsorship of Brighton, and in 2019 the agreement was extended in a 12-year deal worth a reported £100 million.
As for AIA and Tottenham, they initially agreed a four-year contract in 2013, which was subsequently extended in 2017 and 2019. The latter will see the life insurance conglomerate pump £320 million into Spurs’ coffers up until the end of the 2026/27 campaign.
#3 – Liverpool & Standard Chartered (2010)
This rundown could have looked a whole lot different had Liverpool signed an extension with drinks brand Carlsberg, who had sponsored the club in one way or another across 18 years of partnership. However, that agreement came to an end in 2010, with Standard Chartered – a multinational banking firm – stepping into the breach.
That initial four-year deal was worth a whopping £80 million to Liverpool, who are one of the most recognised names in world football. The club and Standard Chartered have signed a series of extensions since, with the latest (at the time of writing) in July 2022 seeing the pair continue to buddy up until the end of the 2026/27 campaign.
Although unconfirmed, it’s thought that the deal is worth £50 million – making it the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in English football (if we don’t count Man City’s ‘flexible’ agreement with Etihad; more on that shortly).
#2 – Manchester City & Etihad (2009)
Of all the sponsorship deals detailed in this article, the one joining Manchester City and Etihad Airways in harmony is one of the most mysterious to try and unravel. City, of course, are owned by the aristocracy of the United Arab Emirates – Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the owner of the Abu Dhabi United Group, which in turn owns a controlling stake in the City Football Group.
Etihad Airways, meanwhile, is the national airline of the UAE. It is owned by a sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company, whose chairman is Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan – the brother of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In theory, that familial connection doesn’t matter to the integrity of a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal. However, Man City have been accused of, shall we say, ‘massaging’ the size of their agreement with Etihad in a bid to add extra profit to their balance sheet in this era of PSR.
That has led to some of the infamous 115 charges against the club for financial impropriety, which could land them in rather hot water. Officially, Etihad pay Manchester City £80 million a year for a combination of front-of-shirt and training ground sponsorship, as well as naming rights to their home stadium.
#1 – Arsenal & Emirates (2006)
It was way back in 2004 that Arsenal and Emirates Airways first connected, with the firm landing the naming rights to the club’s new home stadium.
At the time, the Gunners were sponsored by telecommunications outfit O2, but when that coalition came to an end in 2006, Emirates stepped into the breach to fill the vacant position – one that they continue to enjoy to this very day, with the current term set to end at the culmination of the 2027/28 campaign.
Of course, Arsenal benefit hugely from the agreement – it’s estimated that they earn £50 million per season from the kit sponsorship and stadium naming rights deals.
