Betting companies banned from La Liga shirt sponsorship

Betting companies will no longer be able to appear on football shirts of La Liga clubs from next season, impacting on eight top-flight Spanish clubs.

The details are outlined by a report in El Pais, with Spanish Minister of Consumer Affairs Alberto Garzón toughening up regulations on sponsorship from and exposure of betting companies.

Valencia, Alavés, Leganés, Granada, Mallorca, Sevilla, Osasuna and Levante are the eight clubs in La Liga whose main shirt sponsorship is a betting company.

It follows the approval of laws on Spain’s ‘Royal Decree on Advertising’ – a federal bill which permits a ‘four-hour advertising window (between 1-5am)’ for licensed gambling companies, but no exposure outside of that four-hour time slot.

Not only will the new decree ban any betting companies appearing on shirt sponsorship, but it will no longer be allowed to sponsor stadium names or any other aspect of the clubs.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has now updated its initial wording to establish that “sponsorship in sports jerseys or kits will not be admissible,” within Spain.

The state of alarm in Spain has prevented the Royal Decree from entering into law throughout this summer but the Ministry of Consumer Affairs are confident that when the bill passes through Brussels – as it is expected to – it will be in place for the start of the 2020/21 La Liga season.

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