To find sponsors for a football club, start from what the FA's kit rules let you sell, prospect on football's calendar (up to a year ahead for the shirt), mine your league's and competitions' sponsors for local leads, and sell your women's, academy and community inventory as separate products. Back every approach with the TV and crowd numbers for your level. For the general method of building a list and making first contact, see our complete guide to finding sponsors.

What can a football club sell to sponsors?

More than the shirt front, and the FA's rules tell you exactly how much space you have. Under the FA's 2026-27 Kit and Advertising Regulations, the shirt front can carry one advertising area of up to 250 sq cm, and the shirt back, each sleeve, the back of the shorts and each sock tie-up up to 100 sq cm each (The FA, Rules of the Association 2026-27, Section 10).

The details that shape your inventory list:

Sleeves depend on your competition. Sleeve advertising is allowed only where the county FA or competition rules permit it, and sock tie-ups need competition approval. Premier League sleeve sponsors arrived in 2017-18, on the left sleeve only (Premier League).
Home, away and third kits can carry different sponsors, the third with competition permission.
Each team can have its own shirt deal. Clubs with more than one team may sign separate shirt deals for each team (rule C4), so women's, academy, reserve and youth shirts are separate products.
No sponsor in the club's name at most levels. Clubs in the Premier League, EFL, Steps 1 to 6, the WSL, Women's Championship and FA Women's National League cannot add a sponsor to their playing name (rule C5).

Off the kit, the usual inventory is boards and LED, programme adverts, player and match sponsorship, the match ball and hospitality. Sutton United's 2026-27 player sponsorship runs from £100 for a women's or academy player to £500 for a men's home kit player, including a framed signed shirt and a season-long sponsors' lounge pass for two (Sutton United). Durham Women, in the Women's Super League 2, charge £2,500 + VAT a season for a board and £500 + VAT for a player sponsorship (Durham Women FC).

Which brands are buying football sponsorship now?

At the top, financial, data and AI companies are taking the space gambling brands left on Premier League shirt fronts. SponsorUnited counted eight of the 20 Premier League clubs needing a new front-of-shirt partner for 2026-27, and found betting brands accounted for $141M of the league's $188M premium sponsorship spend last season (2025-26). The new or extended front-of-shirt deals it listed went mainly to financial services, data infrastructure and AI companies (SponsorUnited, 26 August 2026).

Three 2026 examples:

Fulham and ClickHouse, a database company, on the men's home, away and third kits, announced 21 July 2026 (ClickHouse).
Nottingham Forest and Marex, a financial services platform, on the men's and women's shirts plus the netball team, announced 18 August 2026 (Marex).
Crystal Palace and Temporal, a developer software company, for 2026-27. Its CEO, Samar Abbas, said millions of developers "still haven't had a reason to find us" (GeekWire, May 2026).

The lesson lower down: business-to-business firms now buy football shirts to reach buyers and recruits. A League Two or National League club can pitch the regional versions, such as software houses, financial advisers, logistics firms and engineering employers. The pillar guide has the wider UK category data.

Where should a football club look for prospects?

Football gives you prospect pools that other sports do not. Work through these before cold research:

Your league's and competitions' sponsors. Enterprise Rent-A-Car became title sponsor of the National League, North and South from June 2025, and said it would explore ways to support clubs and fans through its more than 450 UK branches (Enterprise, June 2025). Isuzu UK, title partner of the FA Trophy and FA Vase to the end of 2027-28, plans to promote local football sponsorship within its 90+ dealer network (The FA, June 2025). Find the nearest branch or dealer manager and pitch a club deal that builds on the national one.
Sponsors of clubs in your division and the one above. A brand on a rival's sleeve already buys football at your level.
Existing partners for one-off moments. For its live-televised FA Cup third-round tie at Wolves in January 2026, Shrewsbury Town carried Longmynd Travel on its sleeve, a sponsor linked with the club for more than 15 years (Shrewsbury Town).
Companies that have just raised money. GeekWire's report on the Palace deal also notes that Temporal raised $300m earlier in 2026 at a $5bn valuation (GeekWire). A funding round does not mean a firm will sponsor, but it is a reason to call.
Players', volunteers' and members' networks. Banbury United, in the Southern League Premier Central, launched its 2026-27 shirt and stadium sponsor search in April 2026 with volunteers and players leading it. It had more than 70 sponsors in 2025-26 (Banbury United).
Your community trust's partners. Businesses funding trust projects already know the club.

Before pitching a competitor of an existing partner, it is sensible to check that partner's contract for category exclusivity.

When should a football club look for a shirt sponsor?

There is no fixed rule, but the clubs below started their shirt searches between spring and more than a year before the season, so nine to twelve months out is a sensible target for the shirt front. Treat the rest of the year as a series of smaller selling windows.

When	What to sell	Example
A year or more out	Front-of-shirt tenders	Port Vale invited proposals for "the 2026/27 season and beyond", with a 30 June 2025 deadline, after Synectics Solutions' six-year deal ended (Port Vale)
Spring	Next season's shirt and stadium	Chorley FC advertised its front of shirt for 2026/27 in March 2026 (Chorley FC); Banbury United in April
June	Player sponsorship	Sutton United and Durham Women published 2026-27 schemes
July to August	Late shirt deals	Fulham named ClickHouse two days before its home kit release
Late December	Festive fixtures	1,495,076 supporters attended the 108 EFL games from 26 December 2025 to 1 January 2026 (Derby County, citing the EFL)
January	FA Cup third round	Shrewsbury Town's one-off sleeve deal

Premier League clubs can close late because demand is high. Lower down, starting in spring leaves time for the several meetings most deals need.

Plan for promotion and relegation. Moving between divisions changes what your inventory is worth, in both directions. Deloitte puts Championship commercial revenue at £273m in 2024-25, down 10%, largely because of the changing mix of clubs (Deloitte). As practical guidance, agree in advance how a deal will change if you go up or down.

What numbers should you show a football prospect?

Show broadcast reach and attendance for your level, then add your own fan data.

EFL: Sky Sports' five-season deal from 2024-25 covers at least 1,059 EFL matches a season (Sky Sports). Port Vale's tender cited 20+ Sky games a season.
EFL crowds (2023-24): more than 21.5m attended EFL league matches, including 12,723,678 in the Championship and 3,458,968 in League Two (fcbusiness, June 2024).
National League: DAZN's seven-year deal from 2024-25 streams every National League match live, plus a significant selection of North and South games (World Soccer Talk, August 2024).
Step 3 and below: use your own figures. Banbury United quotes crowds of 400 to 1,600 in 2025-26 and 220 young players.
Women's football: Durham Women stream every game on YouTube. Deloitte reports WSL club revenue of £65m in 2023-24, with commercial revenue up 53% (Deloitte, June 2025).

For who your fans are, survey them. Your own data is more persuasive than any national average.

How do you find sponsors for a women's team, academy or community trust?

Sell them as separate products, aimed at brands priced out of the men's shirt or wanting a different story. Crystal Palace Women signed TEN Ltd, an energy transport firm, to the front of their home, away and third kits plus training kit in July 2024, for three seasons, with boards at the VBS Community Stadium and at Selhurst Park when the women play there (Sportcal, July 2024). Forest's Marex deal shows the other route: one partner across several teams.

Community trusts can sell too. Blackpool FC Community Trust's 2025-26 packages run from a £1,000 donation scheme to principal sponsorship at £40,000+, with £10,000 project sponsorships and £20,000 for the front of shirt of Blackpool FC Ladies (Blackpool FC Community Trust). Millwall Lionesses' 2026-27 player sponsorship, through the Millwall Community Trust, costs £220 for new sponsors of one kit (the trust says "after vat") and includes meeting the player and a season ticket (Millwall Community Trust).

Which sponsors can a football club not pitch?

Filter your list by team. For teams made up entirely of under-18s (age at 31 August), the FA says alcoholic drinks, breweries and gambling products are "unlikely to be permissible under any circumstances". Pubs and restaurants may be allowed unless they exist mainly to sell alcohol; ask the FA or your county FA about anything borderline. Tobacco is banned at every level (The FA, Section 10).

So a brewery that cannot go on your under-14s' shirts may still suit first-team boards. For gambling code detail, see our football activation guide.

How do you pitch a football prospect list quickly?

Show each prospect their own brand on your kit and boards, across the whole list. Once you have a shortlist, such as every car dealer or construction firm in your area, Sportworks Scale lets you select several brands or a whole industry and generate personalised pitch assets for every prospect in one run, with batch download and team sharing. You choose the brands; Scale builds the assets.

Sportworks Designs builds each mockup from your own inventory photos, with set logo placements, matching colour, sizing and perspective, across kits, LED boards, stadium signage and social content. Decks turns your existing deck into a template for personalised versions. As Birmingham City FC's Head of Partnerships puts it: "We can create personalised decks in minutes" (Sportworks customers). For what goes in the deck, see how to build a sponsorship pitch deck.

Football club sponsorship FAQs

How big can a sponsor's logo be on a football shirt?

Up to 250 sq cm on the shirt front, and 100 sq cm on the back, each sleeve, the back of the shorts and each sock tie-up, under the FA's 2026-27 rules. Sleeves also depend on competition rules.

Can a pub sponsor a youth football team?

Sometimes. For all-under-18 teams, pubs and restaurants may be allowed unless they exist mainly to sell alcohol. Check with your county FA first.

Can our women's team have a different sponsor from the men's team?

Yes. FA rule C4 lets clubs sign separate shirt deals for each team, as Crystal Palace Women did with TEN Ltd.

When should we start looking for next season's shirt sponsor?

As a rule of thumb, nine to twelve months ahead. Port Vale's tender closed more than a year before the season it covered, while Chorley and Banbury started their searches in spring.

See your shirt with their logo on it

If your commercial team spends more time making mockups than talking to prospects, book a 30-minute Sportworks demo to see personalised pitch assets built from your own kit and stadium photos.

How to Find Sponsors for a Football Club