Betfair signs Bayer Leverkusen sponsorship deal
Exchange operator becomes betting partner of Bundesliga side " Rudi Völler operator's latest brand ambassador.
Betfair has signed a two-year sponsorship deal with the German football club Bayer 04 Leverkusen, in a move which will see the club’s sporting director and former Germany international Rudi Völler become a brand ambassador for the operator.
The exchange operator will gain a branding presence at the Bundesliga club’s BayArena stadium with pitch side branding, and become involved in other club activities.
Leverkusen had partnered with Malta-licensed bookmaker Bet3000 for the 2011-12 football season, but have now signed a six-figure deal with Betfair, according to media agency Sponsors.de, and the club’s managing director Wolfgang Holzhäuser described it as a partnership between two unique entities:
“Betfair, with their betting exchange and four million customers, is not only a global market leader but also stands for innovation and modernity. The betting exchange is absolutely unique in the gambling sector in the same way we are the only Werkself [‘factory club’] in the Bundesliga,” Holzhäuser explained.
Bayer Leverkusen, which was formed by the pharmaceutical company Bayer AG, describes itself as a Werkself to emphasise its industrial roots amid allegations that it is a vanity project for the founders and owners.
It is Betfair’s second German football sponsorship deal, after agreeing to become shirt sponsor of fourth division Berlin-based team Türkiyemspor, based in the city’s Kreuzberg district. PokerStars has also begun developing a sponsorship portfolio in Germany, after VfB Lübeck, also in the country’s fourth divison, sold the naming rights to its stadium to the operator. Bet-at-Home is also present in the country’s football leagues, recently renewing its betting partnership with Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 for a further two years.
The deal comes after Betfair was awarded an operating licence in the northern German Land of Schleswig-Holstein early in May this year, which a spokesman for the company described as an “historic moment.”
However, just days after the first licences were handed out, the ruling Christian Democratic Unionist (CDU) party lost its majority in the state elections and was replaced by a coalition government of the Social Democrats, Green Party and South Schleswig Voter Federation, which initially declared its intention to rejoin the controversial and restrictive state treaty on gambling.
Fears that the licences were to be revoked ultimately proved to be unfounded, with new interior minister Andreas Breitner revealing earlier this week that not only were the issued licences safe, but that he would look to award an additional four to six licences in the coming months.