- Code to be implemented from the start of 2024/25 season
- Money could be used on improving stadia and training facilities, and providing local community and grassroots participation opportunities
Commercial income from gambling sponsorship in English soccer must be reinvested into infrastructure and programmes which benefit the community and fans under a new code of conduct agreed by the Premier League, English Football League (EFL), the Football Association (FA) and Women’s Super League (WSL).
The code, applicable to soccer authorities and clubs in the professional game, will be implemented from the start of the new season.
Major national sporting bodies have been required to develop a voluntary arrangement specific to their sport and are designed around the core principles of protection, social responsibility, reinvestment and integrity.
In relation to gambling sponsorship a joint statement from the Premier League, EFL, FA and WSL said it ‘must be reinvested back into infrastructure and programmes that serve football fans and communities’.
Suggestions include improving stadia and training facilities and providing local community and grassroots participation opportunities.
Other requirements include limiting the reach of sponsorship to protect children and other vulnerable people and those at risk of gambling-related harm, socially-responsible promotion, while also ensuring it does not compromise the integrity of the competition ‘nor harm the welfare of those participants who take part in them’.
‘The aim of the code is to ensure that gambling sponsorships are delivered in a socially responsible way by being designed to limit the reach to children and those at risk of gambling related harm,’ said the joint statement.
Last year, Premier League clubs agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of matchday shirts from the end of the 2025/26 season.
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