Who says August, says return of Ligue 1, to the delight of soccer fans. The opportunity for fans to see the evolution of their favorite team’s summer signings, but also to discover the new jerseys. As tradition dictates, each club has two kits for the season (“home” and “away”) and some, especially those playing in European competitions, occasionally wear a third or even a fourth shirt.
The object of the covetousness of collectors, football shirts have become true fashion items in recent years, designed to be worn both on the field and on the street. But these are also formidable spaces of visibility for the companies, which investissent the important sommes for s’afficher en plus ou moins grand sur la poitrine, les épaules, les manches, le dos des tunics, voire sur le short, des clubs de League 1.
Each new season brings changes, depending on the alliances that the clubs forge with local or international companies. BFM Business analyzed the companies that sponsor the 18 Ligue 1 clubs for this 2023/2024 season. Who are they? Are they geographically linked to the club they support? What sectors are the most fond of sponsorship? Are there more or fewer sponsors than ten years ago? How much do they pay? Answers in numbers.
100 different sponsors for 18 clubs
From one of the world’s largest airlines to a local association for sick children, from an essential fast food chain to a regional sanitation company… The range of shirt sponsors for Ligue 1 clubs is for the least wide. In total, the 18 clubs in our championship display 115 logos on their kits for a total of 100 different companies, local authorities and associations. Variety to discover by entering the name of the club of your choice in the search bar of our interactive table below.
In fact, some companies have the luxury of sponsoring multiple teams. We can mention the famous Breizh Cola, present on the Brest and Lorient jerseys, or the Triangle Intérim employment agency network, sponsor of Monaco and Reims. But the prize goes without context to Winamax. The sports betting site is grouped into the jerseys of 6 teams.
While it may have happened in the past that some teams did not display any main sponsor on the chest of their players (this was the case for Lille and Reims in 2018/2019 for example), this season no club strays from the classic. scheme “one main sponsor + several secondary sponsors”.
However, some peculiarities can be noted. Brest is therefore the only team to have two different main sponsors for its home (Queguiner Matériaux) and away (Yaourt Malo) jerseys. Stade Rennais and PSG are the only clubs not to display a brand on their shorts (apart from that of their sports equipment supplier).
Brest and Nantes, champions of local sponsors
We also wanted to know which were the most “patriotic” clubs, the ones with the most French sponsors. Unsurprisingly, French companies represent an overwhelming majority of Ligue 1 sponsors (80%). 8 clubs wear 100% tricolor brands on their shirts. By contrast, PSG and Nice are the only two clubs that only have foreign sponsors.
An analysis that can be refined with another criterion: the local proximity of the companies to the clubs they sponsor. “There has always been a local anchor in sponsorship,” recalls Pierre Rondeau, professor of economics at the School of Sports Management.
Here again, some clubs play the local card more than others. Seven teams have at least two-thirds regional partners among their sponsors. Knowing that sometimes there are subtleties. For example, E.Leclerc, a retail group with a national reach, is considered local in Brest shorts due to the Leclerc family’s historical roots in Brittany, but not in Metz shorts.
Only two teams achieved the double “100% French sponsors and 100% regional sponsors”: Brest and Nantes. A performance that is all the more remarkable as these two clubs have a very high number of sponsors: 11 for Brest (counting the different sponsors of the home and return kits) and 8 for Nantes.
This preponderance of local companies reflects the virtual non-existence of large French groups on soccer jerseys. LVMH, Atos, TotalEnergies, Airbus, BNP Paribas, L’Oréal… The flagships of the tricolor economy are conspicuous by their absence, despite the good results.
Latest telling example to date: Peugeot, still a longstanding shareholder of FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, withdrew from the club a few years ago. “It no longer corresponded to his brand strategy. In France, soccer continues to be closely associated with a popular image that does not suit the intellectual and economic elite,” said the economist. A withdrawal that may have contributed to Sochaux’s descent into hell.
Construction Industry Highly Represented, Breakthrough In Online Gambling
The distribution of sponsorship industries also illustrates the strategies that have evolved over the years. The most represented sector is construction, with eleven appearances in Ligue 1 teams. There were only four five years ago and five ten years ago. The sector is driven in particular by local companies (sale of construction materials, SMEs specializing in reforms, etc.).
The construction industry is thus replacing local authorities, which have been in decline for several years. There are five occurrences of cities, departments and regions in the sets of the current season, against eleven in 2018/2019 and 13 in 2013/2014. Construction is now ahead of employment (ten appearances in T-shirts and shorts), a sector represented here by networks of temporary employment agencies and whose representation has tripled in a decade.
But the most striking phenomenon in recent years is the rapid and strong appearance of online betting sites. Five years ago they weren’t even on the jerseys, just the shorts of four teams. This season, the sports betting sector is the third most represented in jerseys (six appearances) and the first tied if we add shorts (eleven appearances).
Behind the three most represented sectors, we can highlight the strong presence of real estate and automobiles, two sectors that have been clearly visible for a decade. Just behind, textiles supplant the financial sector (banks and insurance), but on the podium in 2018.
Increase in the number of sponsors by 30% in 10 years
The recent increase in the number of sponsors can be explained in particular by a change in the rules. Until 2012, the Professional Soccer League, which governs the French championship, limited the number of shirt sponsors to six. Rule that jumped due to pressure from the clubs, who can now put as many as they want. And they didn’t miss it. In ten years, the number of sponsors has gone from an average of 4.9 per outfit (shirt + pants) to 6.38, 30% more.
“After the failure of Mediapro in 2020, there was a drop in revenue from TV rights, combined with the drop in revenue from ticket sales during the Covid period. Therefore, clubs were forced to look for revenue to compensate and resorted to sponsorship”, explains Pierre. Rondo.
For comparison, the number of shirt sponsors is limited to two in Germany and England (one on the front and one on the sleeve). The same goes for the jerseys of clubs that play in European competitions, forcing the French clubs in question to reduce the number of sponsors displayed for European matches compared to Ligue 1 matches.
Also, even if it’s not set in stone, the equation always holds true that the “smaller” a club is, the more sponsors it has. This is how Brest, Lorient and Reims go, among the smallest budgets in Ligue 1 and which are among the clubs with the most sponsored shirts. Unable to attract large groups, they accumulate contracts with local companies, often SMEs.
On the contrary, with its massive budget (700 million euros in 2023, according to one estimate) and its international reputation, PSG can settle for two sponsors. Same reasoning in Nice where the only sponsors that appear on the red and black shirt are those of the Ineos group, the British owner of the Riviera club. However, two “small” clubs are exceptions to the rule: Toulouse and, more surprisingly, promoted Le Havre (both with three shirt sponsors and one shorts sponsor).
Qatar Airways pays between 60 and 70 million a year to PSG
As for the amount of sponsorship contracts, if they are generally kept secret, certain specialized firms provide estimates. Thus, the Qatar Airways company would pay between 60 and 70 million euros per year to appear on the front of the PSG shirt. Which makes it by far the biggest sponsorship deal in Ligue 1.
For comparison, Emirates, another Gulf airline, would pay between 20 and 25 million euros a year to be featured on the chests of Olympique Lyonnais players. On OM’s side, the shipowner CMA CGM, the new sponsor for this season, would have signed a contract worth 8 or 9 million euros a year (plus bonuses). In Nice, the display of his brand on the shirt costs 5 million a year to the owner Ineos. And Samsic, historical sponsor of the Stade Rennais, pays 2.5 million to the Breton club.
These are just the main jersey sponsors. For a small logo on the sleeves or on the lower part of the back, the sums that companies pay are much less. And while the number of sponsors has increased over the past decade, there is no evidence that the individual value of contracts has followed suit. Economic logic even indicates otherwise.
The fact is that the lifting of the maximum limit on the number of members shown on the shirts and the postponement of sponsorship post-Covid have had an impact on the budgets of the clubs. In 2021/2022, Ligue 1 teams earned €653 million in sponsorship and advertising revenue, according to figures released by the DNCG (French football’s economic police). This is 57% more than in 2018/2019, the last season before Covid. Above all, in ten years, these revenues have more than tripled.
Source: BFM TV
