With more than 3.5 billion fans worldwide, football is the world’s most popular sport—and Europe’s “Big Five” professional leagues comprise its dynamic epicenter, showcasing the game’s dazzling appeal and momentum better than anywhere else on earth. As revenue grows, so do partnership price tags—like adidas’s deal with Manchester United announced late last month, which will see the German powerhouse extend its jersey collaboration with the team to the tune of $115 million a year through 2035—a Premier League record.
- Active brands increased 10% across the five professional leagues worldwide
- Neymar clinched the crown as the most endorsed player with 31 deals
- Manchester City dominated tech-centric sponsorships across the leagues with 19
Methodology:
This report offers an in-depth analysis of brand sponsorships, endorsements, and social data across the top five European football leagues–namely, Premier League, Bundesliga, LALIGA, Serie A, and Ligue 1–and their players under contract. Compiled using SponsorUnited's proprietary platform, the data encompasses more than 3,500 brands, 200 players, and nearly 44,000 branded social posts.
The report was jointly authored by SponsorUnited's Marketing Research & Insights and Marketing Departments, using data from July 10, 2022, through July 15, 2023. Any deals announced or signed after this closing date are not included. As an exception, the "Stealing the Spotlight" page considers 2023 player's transfer data until August 1st, 2023.
"The Fab Five," five rising stars, were determined by the following criteria: age 22 or younger, less than three sponsorship deals, more than 100% follower growth on social media year-over-year, played less than 20 matches on the European stage, and listed on UEFA’s Players to Watch for 2023.
About SponsorUnited:
Launched in 2018, SponsorUnited is the leading global sports and entertainment intelligence platform. SponsorUnited enables brands, rights holders, and agencies to partner more effectively. By connecting the entire sponsorship ecosystem through the most comprehensive data available anywhere, SponsorUnited is fueling smarter partnerships.
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With more than 3.5 billion fans worldwide, football is the world's most popular sport–and Europe's “Big Five” professional leagues comprise its dynamic epicenter, showcasing the game's dazzling appeal and momentum better than anywhere else on earth.
Record attendance in the 2022-2023 season tells the story. An average 40,267 fans turned out to watch England's Premier League this year, a new all-time high–which was edged out only by Germany's Bundesliga, which reported highest attendance of all European football leagues, with an average of over 43,000 fans flocking to stadiums. Attendance in Spain's LaLiga also increased to more than 11 million, while France's Ligue 1 set its own record at just over 9.05 million. Finally, Italy's Serie A posted its best figures since the turn of the century, as an average 29,495 fans headed through stadium gates.
And revenues are following suit. In the 2021-22 season, the Big Five generated record aggregate revenues of $18.1 billion, according to Deloitte–outperforming the pre-pandemic benchmark of $17.9 billion set in 2018-19. While the numbers aren't in yet, it's a safe bet that the 2022-2023 season will set yet another new record.
As revenue grows, so do partnership price tags–like adidas's deal with Manchester United announced late last month, which will see the German powerhouse extend its jersey collaboration with the team to the tune of $115 million a year through 2035–a Premier League record.
Against this backdrop, sponsorships are also evolving, as brands and teams look to innovate in the face of ever-growing audiences and shifting demographics. They're becoming more customised and multifaceted, with singular activations, a burgeoning emphasis on social media engagement, and a nod to social issues like sustainability and gender equity–and connecting with more fans than ever before in the process.
European football itself is changing dramatically too, as challenger leagues like MLS and SPL lure global superstars like Messi and Ronaldo to new markets–creating unprecedented marketing opportunities around the globe in the process.
For all these reasons and more, we're excited to unveil the European Football Report 2022-23. Authored jointly by SponsorUnited's Marketing Research & Insights, Analytics and Marketing teams, it delivers an in-depth analysis of more than 3,500 brands, 200 athletes, and nearly 44,000 social posts between July 10, 2022 and July 15, 2023.
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