Everton to End Sponsorship Deal with SportPesa

Everton Football Club is going to end their sponsorship deal with Kenyan gambling giant SportPesa at the end of this season, two years early.

The early termination of the deal, which was understood to be for £7m a season, an Everton record, follows a strategic review of the club’s commercial operations led by the chief executive, Denise Barrett-Baxendale.

She responded to a question at the club’s AGM last month by saying that “in an ideal world” they would prefer a “different type of sponsor” than a gambling company. Everton’s desire to increase their activities and revenues with sponsors, in line with the club’s development and investment under the ownership of Farhad Moshiri, together with restrictions which apply when a sponsor is a gambling company, are understood to have been factors in the club approaching SportPesa to end the sponsorship early.

“This has been a difficult decision but one that allows us to best deliver on our commercial plan and to grasp the new opportunities now open to us. The club would like to thank SportPesa for all of the work that has been done together. Our partnership has seen our first team visit Africa on two occasions, as well as former players and club staff take part in numerous activations in the region. This has allowed us to grow our own footprint in Africa and further strengthen our special relationship with the continent,” an Everton spokesperson said.