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- Main partnership runs until end of 2021/22 season
- Deal also covers Fulham’s women’s team
- Club’s previous shirt sponsor paid reported UK£3m a year
Newly promoted Premier League side Fulham have named gambling firm BetVictor as their main partner until the end of the 2021/22 season.
The two-year deal will see the BetVictor logo replace Dafabet on the front of the club's playing shirts and feature prominently at the team’s Craven Cottage home on matchdays, as well as across their website and social media platforms.
The agreement also covers Fulham’s women’s team, who play in the London and South East Women’s Regional Football League.
Fulham had been without a shirt sponsor for their Premier League return after their deal with Dafabet expired at the end of the 2019/20 Championship season, when the West London club secured promotion via the playoffs.
Financial terms of Fulham’s agreement with BetVictor have not been made public, but their two-year contract with Dafabet, which the club described as a record at the time, was reported to be worth UK£3 million (US$3.9 million) a year.
Fulham chief executive Alistair Mackintosh said: “BetVictor shares our passion for success and we hope to develop our relationship further throughout the duration of the partnership, in order to achieve and exceed our goals.”
Fulham’s decision to sign a shirt deal with another betting company comes amid growing calls for English soccer to end its reliance on the gambling industry for commercial income.
In July, a House of Lords Select Committee report recommended that shirt sponsorship deals with gambling firms be outlawed in the Premier League, and that clubs in the English Football League (EFL), which oversees the three tiers below the top flight, be given three years to phase out such agreements.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has previously said that gambling needs stronger governance, but added that it is ultimately up to individual clubs to decide whether they want commercial relationships with betting companies.
Fulham begin life back in the Premier League after a one-year absence with a home fixture against Arsenal on 12th September.
