The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has no plans to restrict gambling sponsors from featuring on the front of football clubs’ match-day shirts and follow in the footsteps of the English Premier League (EPL).
No Plans for Such Restrictions
The body overseeing the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One, and Scottish League Two would not follow the lead of the EPL and introduce a voluntary restriction for its clubs to feature gambling firms on the front of their shirts, stating it was a matter for each club to decide.
“For many SPFL clubs, sponsorship from gambling companies is a significant source of income which helps to support their business models and enables investment in many of the important community activities which clubs undertake,” a spokesperson for the SPFL told BBC Scotland.
Individual sponsorships are a matter for each club and there are no plans for a league-wide proscription of such deals.
SPFL spokesperson
The SPFL announcement alleviated worries for at least three Scottish Premiership clubs Celtic, Rangers and Dundee United. Celtic is currently featuring Dafabet on the front of their shirts, Rangers has two gambling shirt partners -32Red and Unibet, and Dundee United’s jersey hosts the logo of QuinnCasino.
‘Desperate for Money’
The announcement was blasted by former First Minister Henry McLeish who believes the SPFL would not act because of financial issues. Adamant that tobacco, alcohol and gambling firms should have no place in Scottish football, McLeish believes the SPFL should not hide behind the clubs when it is its responsibility to “look after the general interests of football.”
I think we’re in a position in Scotland where, forgive the pun, it’s a match made in hell. Because quite frankly the SPFL is desperate for money and of course, the gambling industry is desperate for advertising.
Henry McLeish
McLeish regretted that the SPFL would not follow the lead of the EPL, expressing his disbelief that in Scotland and the UK “there are not good sponsors willing to come into the game if the game itself could be made more attractive to those particular sponsors.”
According to the collective agreement announced yesterday, Premier League clubs will voluntarily remove gambling firms from the front of their shirts starting from the 2026/27 season. Clubs will keep their right to feature gambling firms on the shirt sleeves, gear, on pitch-side hoarding, or elsewhere at their stadia.
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