UK bookmakers Ladbrokes have signed an advertising deal with German football club SV Werder Bremen, marking the betting company’s first deal with the country’s top football league.
The deal only became news after Ladbrokes signage appeared on LED perimeter boards at the team’s home field of Weserstadion during Saturday’s match against Hamburger SV.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Sponsors.de reported that the pact extends through the current Bundesliga season. Team GM Klaus Filbry said he was pleased to have Lads on board but would wait to see if the relationship blossoms into a lasting partnership.
Bremen had a longstanding sponsorship arrangement with German sports betting operator Tipico, but that three-year deal expired this summer, paving the way for Ladbrokes to swoop in with a Whitman’s sampler and (presumably) a fat check. Germany is a top international market for Ladbrokes, which was one of the 20 recipients of a German online sports betting license last year, although that distinction has since been rendered more or less moot.
In other football sponsorship news, French second-tier side AS Nancy Lorraine have inked a shirt deal with the country’s third-largest casino operator JOA Casino. The company’s logo will appear on the back of the club’s shirts for the remainder of the current season, and JOA will also feature on the pitch-side hoardings at the Ligue 2 club’s Stade Marcel Picot.
In less happy news, Betclic Everest’s Austrian subsidiary Bet-at-home has ended its title sponsorship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Hamburg Rothenbaum event. The parties had a five-year deal that expired in September and will not be renewed. Bet-at-home, which signed a new shirt sponsorship with Germany’s Hertha BSC this summer, is reportedly only interested in pursuing football tie-ups in future.
