Former FC Barcelona star, Gerard Piqué, recently launched an ambitious–and potentially groundbreaking–post-retirement project: Kings League Infojobs, a new seven-a-side, Spanish football league established in December 2022. Piqué selected 12 partners, called “presidents” (high-profile digital content creators and other former football athletes, including Iker Casillas and Kun Agüero), to build their own teams from the ground up–from creating names and logos to hiring management and technical staff.

One especially high-profile president, influencer Ibai Llanos–a Spanish internet celebrity and renowned esports caster known simply as “Ibai,” whose events hold worldwide streaming records–heads up league club Porcinos FC. The league is leveraging Llanos’ massive following (more than 9M on Instagram alone)–along with the followings of its other presidents–to grow its viewership.

This strategy is proving wildly successful so far. The Kings League has already drawn legions of viewers since its inaugural season kicked off on January 1, 2023, helped in part by an appearance by Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho in the 8th “journey” (weekly game day, in Kings League parlance, aka "matchday"). In January alone, the league racked up 238M views on TikTok, while the league’s Twitch account drew the platform’s highest average number of viewers worldwide the same month.

Kings League rules differ from traditional football regulations, with the goal of adding dynamism to the game via tactics including a tie-breaker penalty shootout, unlimited substitutions, and special "secret weapons” (detailed below).

Anyone who wants to play for the league–from influencers to athletes, and everyone in between–can apply by submitting an application and video. Kings League then selects 200 players and holds a draft, where presidents and their coaches make their picks.

Rules & Regulations

• Kings League matches are held every Sunday from 4:00pm-10:00pm Central European Time (CET), and span 40 minutes divided into two halves.
• At the conclusion of the 11-journey regular season–which lasts just 3 months–the eight best teams proceed to the playoffs, which will culminate in a Final Four on March 26 at Camp Nou (FC Barcelona Stadium).
• There are 2 seasons per year; May 2023 begins this year’s second season.
• Before every match, each coach chooses an envelope containing a “secret weapon” (arma secreta in Spanish) that provides a playing advantage, which can be used once per game. The 20 “secret weapon” cards include the following advantages, among others:
• Double goal (6): For 2 minutes, goals scored will count as two.
• Penalty from the center (4): A penalty kick from midfield–1-on-1 striker against the goalkeeper, with no rejection possible.
• Wild card (1): Can be used as a wild card to play any of the other cards.
• Piqué (1): Gerard Piqué will join the team as a player for that match.
• At the 18th minute of the first half, a “League Card” is drawn that changes the number of players on the field (1vs1, 2vs2, 3vs3, 4vs4, or 5vs5) for the half’s last two minutes.
• There are no draws; if teams are tied at the match’s end, a penalty shootout decides the winner.
• In the starting kickoff, both teams must be on their goals until the countdown ends, and then run to take the ball at midfield.

On May 6, the Kings League will launch Queens League Oysho, named for the Spanish clothing retailer that’s its title sponsor. A women’s league with the same rules and format, its debut–to be played in tandem with the Kings League’s second season, with games held on Saturday–will help to further fuel the momentum of women’s football worldwide. 

League Sponsors

Kings League sponsors activate during matches via rotating billboards, product placement, and halftime challenges, among other assets. Each team can also sign its own sponsors, whose logos can be placed on the players’ jersey sleeves and shorts. Along with the weekly journey recap, “AfterKings,” broadcast Mondays on YouTube and Twitch–the league’s streaming partner–team presidents can stream their games on their preferred platforms, showcasing team sponsors with a product placement or digital billboard/logo activation.

INFOJOBS: The Kings League’s exclusive naming partner and primary jersey patch partner of all 12 teams, Europe’s leading career network brand also sponsors KOI, the esports team cofounded by Ibai.

Simyo: Marking one of its first forays into sports sponsorships, the Spanish telecom company ranks among the league’s main sponsors, whose assets include the “Simyo MVP” award.  

McDonald’s: To promote McDelivery, its delivery services brand, McDonald’s sponsorships in Spain span sports including football (Mirandes), basketball (Cazoo Baskonia), and esports (Movistar Riders), as well as out-of-home advertising worldwide. Within the Kings League, the fast food titan sponsors event-related content including the countdown to matches’ kickoff, and runs a banner ad on Twitch, the league’s streaming partner.

Grefusa: The Spanish food products manufacturer ranks among the league’s main sponsors, and also sponsors its referees. Active in the streaming market, the snack brand also sponsors Ibai’s events, as well as Team Heretics, an esports team.

XiaoMI: An active sponsor of football properties–including the Mexican and Finnish national federations–as well as music festivals and esports teams, the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer is one of the league’s main partners and its VAR (Instant Replay) sponsor. The brand’s logo also features on the back of all team jerseys.

CUPRA: The Spanish carmaker’s many sponsorships include the World Padel Tour, FC Barcelona, tennis events like the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, and KOI, Ibai’s esports club. As the Kings League Stadium Sponsor, the brand’s cars are displayed outside of CUPRA Arena, the league’s home.

Spotify: Hot on the heels of a landmark July 2022 deal with FC Barcelona that named the music streaming giant Main Partner and Official Audio Streaming Partner of the club–and saw the team’s stadium rebranded Spotify Camp Nou–the brand seized the opportunity to get in on the ground level of FC Barcelona alum Piqué’s newest venture, sponsoring the Kings League “secret weapon” cards.

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As the players get ready to take the pitch for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final, we compare the two team's brand portfolio and social game.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the concept of “Fan Fest” was replaced by the "Fan Festival" concept.

FIFA’s plan was to reintroduce the Fan Fest as a more diverse and inclusive entertainment offering encompassing a wide variety of cultures, art, music, food and football outside the stadiums. The concept will also be rolled out during the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

On December 4, the FIFA Fan Festival celebrated the 1 millionth visitor milestone across all of the Fan Festivals this year.

For this years World Cup, FIFA approved Fan Festival sites

• BudX Fan Festivals in London, Seoul and Dubai

• Corona Fan Festival in Mexico City, Mexico

• Brahma Fan Festivals in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

• Coca-Cola Fan Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

• Doha, Qatar, a non sponsored festival

Some of the Fan Festival activations:

• Interactive physical and digital football game stations

• Sponsored activations

• Appearances from FIFA Legends

• Official stores with licensed World Cup merchandise.

• Content within the FIFA+ streaming platform.

• A hat and cup from Budweiser for fans who attended the event in London, and an opportunity to win an England shirt signed by a football legend.

• In London, Budweiser gave fans the opportunity to win an England signed shirt by a football legend.

• An adidas-sponsored fan activation in Mexico where attendees played Teqball, a football-based sport played on a specially curved table within a designated area.

• adidas also gave away little footballs before, during, and after games. After all games ended, the event host would throw 5 adidas balls into the crowd.

• Coca-Cola branding across all of the table football (foosball tables) at the event in Mexico City.

Thanks to a new licensing model FIFA introduced in 2022, existing and future FIFA partners can launch local Fan Festivals in major cities outside the host countries to make the tournament experience more accessible for the global fan community.

• SponsorUnited was in attendance at the festivals in London, Mexico City, Dubai and will be going to Doha on December 17th.

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Brands Spend a Record $461M in Sponsorships Across Major League Soccer Clubs in 2022.Technology and Utilities categories topped the sponsorship growth chart, accounting for 15% of new brand sponsors.

The MLS 2022 Marketing Partnerships Report analyzes 1,750 partnership deals across the league, clubs and athletes during the 2022 season. The report uncovered that $461 million in club sponsorship revenue was generated across 1,300 unique brands. The beverage-alcohol category and media brands topped the charts with the most active brands.

Key findings from the report include:

Sporting KC, Philadelphia Union and Austin FC attract nearly 100 brand deals eachAll three clubs exceeded 90 sponsorship deals for the 2022 season, eclipsing the league average of 62. Sporting KC leads in terms of deal volume, with new partners including Don Neron Tequila, Socios.com, Google Fiber, and Compass Minerals, its new front jersey partner. Austin FC quickly surpassed all other MLS clubs in terms of sponsorship category diversity in just its second season.

U.S. World Cup player DeAndre Yedlin of Inter Miami CF leads with the most new brand collaborations this yearReturning to the MLS this year after a 7-year hiatus, DeAndre Yedlin has inked five brand endorsements this season. Yedlin partnered with three league sponsors–Heineken, Audi, and DoorDash–in addition to Quaker State and Captain Morgan. LAFC player Giorgio Chiellini took the lead in endorsements with 18, and the number of branded social posts with 28.

Cryptocurrency and FinTech propelled Finance to the top of 2022’s list of most searched categoriesCrypto sponsorship deals within MLS quintupled to five from just one last year. Cryptocurrency was the most searched financial category within the SponsorUnited platform as more than 250 cryptocurrency brands worldwide were searched, with Coinbase, Crypto.com, and eToro leading the way.

International and domestic brands ramp up activations with MLSFor the 2022 season, MLS gained six new league partners: Avant, IHG, Socios.com, Sorare, Doordash and Caterpillar. Brands like the Japanese beverage company Asahi tapped into the North America market for the first time through MLS, in addition international brands including Volkswagen, Bermuda Tourism Authority, and Inter&Co. The five most active brands among the league and individual athletes include Heineken (785 social posts), Audi (658 posts), BodyArmour (618 posts), Bank of Montreal (403 posts) and Delta (390 posts).

“MLS continues to impress with its increasing popularity, game attendance, and sponsorships, propelling the league to be the fastest growing in the world,” said Bob Lynch, Founder and CEO of SponsorUnited. “It's clear to see how MLS franchise median value grew 5x more than other U.S. pro leagues through new investments made from companies like DoorDash, as well as continued support from brands like Adidas, who has been a league partner for the past 26 years. It’s an exciting time for MLS and I'm looking forward to seeing the continued momentum.”

Methodology:

This report was compiled using SponsorUnited’s proprietary platform data from January 15, 2022, through November 8, 2022. Social data compiled from property or person-controlled Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn accounts and social activity.

The much anticipated USA vs England FIFA World Cup match begins in just a few hours. Take a look at some of the new and extended partnerships brands have activated across both teams.

USA

11/16, Legends Partnership Extended with USALess than a week before the USMT's first World Cup game of 2022 vs. Wales, Legends announced a partnership extension with the U.S. Soccer Federation. The new multi-year agreement builds on a previous four-year partnership to keep Legends as the provider for all U.S. Soccer Store experiences both online and at events. New objectives of this agreement include future plans to implement an elevated version of the Visa Fan Studio, a mobile unit that can be stationed at U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Team matches.

11/7, U.S. Soccer and Volkswagen announce partnership extensionAlmost a month before the start of the FIFA World Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced a multi-year partnership extension with Volkswagen. The extension follows the German manufacturers continued growth of electric vehicles, including the ID.4 SUV and upcoming ID. Buzz. New efforts for the partnership include a focus on sustainability and electrification, as U.S. Soccer and Volkswagen will team up to work towards actionable sustainability initiatives and encouraged EV adoption.

11/3, Anheuser-Busch singed a multi-year sponsorship extension with U.S. SoccerThe longest strategic partner of the U.S. Soccer Federation, Anheuser-Busch, announced a partnership renewal that builds off the pre-existing 35-year relationship. The extension includes Kickoff Parties before select World Cup matches that include live entertainment, giveaways, and guest appearances from influencers and alumni. Matt Davis, the Head of Sports Marketing of Anheuser-Busch, focused on supporting the continued growth of the U.S. soccer's growing fanbase.

ENGLAND

5/30, Nuffled Health announced new partnership with the England FAAs part of a five-year partnership, Nuffled Health was announced as the FA's Official Health and Wellbeing Partner. The partnership aims to improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities through the mental and physical benefits brought by the game of football.

5/23, Marks & Spencer (M&S) announced new joint partnership with England FA and moreTo help promote the brand's food division, M&S tapped England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland FA as part of a joint partnership. The campaign began in July, and includes both physical inventory and content integrations featuring star players from the country's national team rosters.

The 22nd FIFA World Cup kicked off yesterday with Qatar vs. Ecuador, where Ecuador won over the host country 2-0. The month-long event–whose sponsors include adidas, Coca-Cola, Visa, and Qatar Airways, among others–will showcase the world's best players in a blockbuster broadcast event that FIFA estimates will draw an audience of over 5B viewers worldwide.

Stars like Alphonso Davies and Sergiño Dest will strive to shine, while storied veterans Lionel Messi and Ronaldo will aim to end their storied careers with a bang in their last World Cup appearance. We compiled the following roundup of the most sponsored athletes in the competition, in order of number of deals.

Neymar Jr

The Brazilian Paris Saint-Germain powerhouse has hinted that this year’s tournament–his third–may be his last. His sponsorship stable includes a whopping 36 brands, among them Puma, Netflix, Qatar Airways, Red Bull, Facebook Gaming, and Pokerstars. Red Bull, Neymar’s partner since 2016, is the main sponsor of his Five, the world’s largest five-a-side football tournament. Neymar’s deal with Puma–reportedly the largest individual sports sponsorship in history–earns him a reported $30M per year. His social media numbers reflect his mega-stardom: with a cumulative social following of over 340M followers, Neymar posted 127 times, engaging within the last 12 months more than 71M and averaging an impressive engagement of 3.6M per brand and 405.5K per post.

Lionel Messi

With this year’s appearance, Messi and Ronaldo will join an exclusive club--which currently includes just four other players–to have played in five World Cup tournaments. The Argentine legend’s 25 deals include Adidas–a lifetime contract that pays him a reported $25M per year–Budweiser, Pepsi, Lay’s, Gatorade, and Konami. He’s also the only athlete to have a deal with Cirque du Soleil.

With over 510M followers, Messi has become a social media marvel, posting 61 times in the last 12 months for a total engagement of nearly 150M, and averaging an astonishing 8.7M per brand and 1.3M per post. Messi’s 8 Adidas posts alone garnered engagement of 18.6M. The Argentinian phenom posted 11 times in 2022 for his premium lifestyle brand, The Messi Store (total followers:1.5M), engaging 16.5M fans.

Cristiano Ronaldo

This year’s tournament marks the fifth and final World Cup appearance of the Manchester United megastar, whose 21 partnerships include Nike, Clear, Binance, Herbalife, LiveScore, and Therabody. Sponsored by Nike since 2003, he signed a lifetime contract with the Swoosh in a deal worth a reported $1B. Ronaldo’s unrivaled global reach–he’s the most prolific person in the world on social media, with a total following of close to 760M–allows him to sign slews of exclusive deals, like his partnership with Talabat, a food delivery service company in the UAE.

With 496M followers on Instagram alone, his engagement numbers–a staggering 180M this year across 69 sponsored posts, averaging 12.8M per brand and 1.8M per post–eclipse all players on this list. Ronaldo 7 posts for his clothing and fragrance brand, CR7, garnered engagement of 41.3M, while his 5 posts for Nike scored 25.4M. Ronaldo also owns his own lifestyle hotel called Pestana CR7, with locations in New York, Madrid, Lisbon, Marrakech, Funchal, and his native Madeira.

Son Heung-min

The South Korean star of the Tottenham Hotspurs will make his third World Cup appearance in Qatar, entering the tournament with 14 deals: Adidas, Calvin Klein, Gillete, EA Sports, Tiger Beer, Republic of Gamers, NFTStar, Volvo, Tumi, OpenSea, SK Telecom, Korean Tourism Organization, Cartier, and Gentle Monster.

The only European football athlete sponsored by Volvo and Cartier, Son is Calvin Klein’s brand ambassador in South Korea, and joins Alan Walker, Loserfruit, Nyjah Huston, and Karl-Anthony Towns as a partner of gaming equipment maker, Republic of Gamers. In 2022, his 33 sponsored posts engaged 13.2M followers, with a per-brand average of 1.6M, while his 20 Adidas posts totaled 11M in engagement.

Jack Grealish

Following his monumental, $139M move from Aston Villa to Manchester City in August 2021–which broke the British signing record–Grealish will make his World Cup debut in Qatar, entering the tourney with a stacked endorsement portfolio of 12 brands: Nike, EA Sports, McDonald’s, Icons Memorabilia, Gucci, Amazon Prime Video, Panini, PlayStation, Topps, Bose and boohooMan. Grealish is one of two World Cup players, along with Serge Gnabry, to partner with Gucci, earning a reported $1.2M. The Man City megastar’s 21 sponsored posts totaled engagement of 3.1M this year, averaging 352.7K per brand.

Guillermo Ochoa

Heading into his fifth World Cup, the Mexican stalwart known as “Memo” boasts 9 deals with Xbox, Nike, Trebel Music, Expedia, Michelob Ultra, Troquer, Hugo Boss, Dolo Neurobion, and Perfumerica. Ochoa posted 42 times for the 9 brands in 2022 , totaling 1.4M in engagement. This year, Americans Christian Pulisic and Carli Llyod joined Ochoa in a TV spot for Michelob Ultra–which also partnered with designer Guillermo Andrade to create a limited-edition, unofficial World Cup jersey for fans.

Virgil Van Dijk

This year’s competition will be the Dutch Liverpool defender’s first, but the Champions League winner already has 8 brand deals--with EA Sports, Nike, JBL, Cadbury, Tundra eSports, Meta Quest, Freia, and Sponsor Thailand--thanks to his notable success at the club level. Van Dijk is one of two European football athletes--along with Mason Mount--to have a deal with JBL. Van Dijk’s sponsored engagement on social media totaled 2.7M, with an impressive 455K average per brand.

Trent Alexander-Arnold

The breakout star for Liverpool and England will compete in his second World Cup in Qatar, entering the tournament with deals with Therabody, Red Bull, Konami, WeAre8, Palo Alto Networks, Bang & Olufsen, and Under Armour, with whom he inked a multi-year deal worth a reported $2M annually. With close to 20M total followers on social media, the stellar right-back chalked up 5M in engagement and an average 628.3K per brand across 19 sponsored posts.

Alphonso Davies

The Ghana-born, 22-year-old standout will lead Canada in its first World Cup appearance since 1986. Besides Nike, Davies partners with Bank of Montreal, Topps, EA Sports, BioSteel, Crocs, Jordan Brand, and HATTRICKS, teaming up with the TK to create a digital football collectable game. Davies’ 33 sponsored social posts racked up a total engagement of nearly 2M this year.

Kevin De Bruyne

Playing in his third World Cup in 2022 the Belgian Manchester City star’s sponsor lineup includes Nike, Therabody, UFL, Balln, SecretLab, Phemex, Wow Hydrate, and Lanistar. He’s also the only athlete endorsed by AI company, Balln, and crypto platform, Phemex. With a cumulative social following of 45M, De Bruyne engaged 2.1M fans across 18 posts, averaging 314.1K per brand.

Sergiño Dest

The 22-year-old defender–on loan to AC Milan from La Liga club Barcelona–will be playing in his first World Cup for USMNT, and has deals with Nike, BioSteel, AT&T, Hugo Boss, Icons Memorabilia, and EA Sports. Dest posted 5 times on social media this year, engaging 465K followers.

With the world’s biggest quadrennial sporting event just 10 days away, SU has been capturing unique brand activations and crossover campaign insights into the longstanding partnership between FIFA and The Coca-Cola Company, a FIFA partner since 1976 and an official sponsor since 1978. Let’s take a closer look at this epic partnership:

FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola

The World Cup Trophy Tour–which kicked off in Dubai in May and included 51 countries and territories–wraps up this week in Toronto, its last stop in North America (host of the 2026 World Cup) before the trophy heads to Qatar for the hotly anticipated 2022 event, beginning November 20. For the first time ever, the tour visited all 32 countries that qualified for this year’s World Cup–bringing Coca-Cola and FIFA one step closer to their goal of visiting each of FIFA’s 211 member associations by 2030.

In another first, all activations throughout the tour were digitally led–reducing waste and minimizing consumption of water, energy, and materials at each stop–in a nod to the beverage giant’s wide-ranging sustainability efforts.

SponsorUnited was on the ground for the tour’s stop in Dallas earlier this week. The seamless, two-day event proved to be a terrific experience for fans, who enjoyed activities including fast-feet interactive games and foosball. At Coke Ink Studio, they could get “inked” with temporary tattoos of Coke cans bearing promises they’d make if the US wins the World Cup, part of the company’s sprawling “Believing Is Magic” campaign (detailed below). Other fan favorites: a photo opp with the trophy, sponsored by Coca-Cola, as well as a chance to create a Panini trading card with a selfie.

“Believing Is Magic”Campaign

To inspire fans worldwide to share the commitments they make in support of their favorite teams, Coca-Cola unveiled the “Believing is Magic” campaign in September, spotlighting authentic moments of connection between fans, and the beliefs, rituals, and promises inherent in World Cup fandom. In keeping with Coca-Cola’s focus on digitally driven initiatives, the campaign features an online hub that connects fans across the world, and three digital films about the promises fans make if their team wins.

Taglines like, “If we win I’ll get a tattoo” will also feature on special edition “promise” packaging worldwide–part of Coca-Cola’s commitment to immerse fans in soccer’s unifying magic.

Once the World Cup kicks off on November 20, Coca-Cola will also unveil a program that highlights fan superstitions during matches. New packaging also will showcase team colors and shared promises.

World Cup 2022 Anthem: “A Kind of Magic”

On October 19, Coca-Cola and Universal Music Group announced the unveiling of the FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign anthem–a multicultural reimagining of Queen’s iconic track, “A Kind of Magic.”

A collaboration between three female recording artists–Danna Paola of Mexico, Felukah of Egypt, and Tamtam of Saudi Arabia–the song was released on October 21, as was the accompanying performance video, filmed in Mexico City. The video captures the excitement for one of the biggest sporting events on the planet, fusing Latin and Arabic culture with the impassioned world of the FIFA World Cup.

An electrifying performance of “A Kind of Magic” is scheduled for the World Cup opening ceremony on November 20, when Qatar will face off against Ecuador to jumpstart the FIFA festivities.

Leg 1 of the the Liga MX Final begins tomorrow as Toluca FC matches up against CF Pachuca in this final stage.

Toluca FC top sponsors: Roshfrans, Caliente Interactive, Corona (Anheuser-Busch), Under Armour, and Aeromexico.

CF Pachuca top sponsors: Telcel, Betcris, Corona (Anheuser-Busch), Cementos Fortaleza, and GRUPO CHARLY.

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Congratulations to Karim Benzema and Alexia Putellas, the winners of this year’s Ballon d’Or (“Golden Ball”) Award, presented in Paris on October 17th. Nominees for the annual award recognizing the best player over the previous year–presented by French news magazine French Football since 1956–included 30 men’s and 20 women’s football players from around the world.

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema–nicknamed “Karim the Dream”–was the favorite after winning the UEFA Nations League with France, the LaLiga title, the Spain Supercup, and the Champions League with Real Madrid, as well as the 2021/2022 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year. With 120M total followers, Benzema was the second most-followed Ballon d’Or nominee this year on social media. His partnerships with 6 brands–including adidas, Jean Paul Gaultier, Technogym, and Crypto.com–have generated 16M engagements and counting.

Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or Award for the second consecutive year, becoming the first female player to win the title twice. Her elite run has boosted her social following a whopping 330% year-over-year to 3M across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The FC Barcelona midfielder takes the 5th spot among both male and female Ballon d’Or nominees in terms of brand partnerships, garnering more than 2.4M engagements across 18 branded posts.

With a staggering following of more than 740M, nominee Cristiano Ronaldo is the most popular person in the world on social media. He also leads the nominees in brand partnerships with 17, including LiveScore, Nike, Clear (Unilever), and CR7, his own underwear brand. With 18 nominations during his career–the most of any player–the Portuguese megastar has won 5 Ballon d’Or trophies, a feat surpassed only by Lionel Messi with 7 awards.

Alex Morgan tops the list of female players on social media with an audience of more than 20M–ranking her 15th among all Ballon d’Or nominees by total followers. With 27 deals, the San Diego Wave striker also partners with more brands than any other female athlete. Morgan’s most engaging branded post–on Instagram with Beat Everybody, the clothing brand she cofounded with fellow US Women’s National Soccer Team players Allie Long and Kelley O’Hara–has racked up 293K engagements since January.

One of the most anticipated games of the season takes place today in Santiago Bernabeu Stadium as Real Madrid and Barcelona meet in the first LaLiga Classico of the season.

Spotify, the primary jersey patch partner for Barcelona, has agreed to display an OVO Owl jersey patch in the game instead of their typical logo. The patch commemorates Canadian music artist Drake, who became the first artist with 50 billion streams on Spotify. The brand's partnership with FC Barcelona has more than 3X the total assets of any other deal. The partnership includes venue naming rights and social content that amassed over 1M total engagements.

The two powerhouse teams are the top two most followed teams in LaLiga, and have additionally each seen YoY follower growth over 10%. Check out the graphic below to learn more about these teams/athletes competing and their partnership portfolio.

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Alex Morgan is the Most Endorsed Female Athlete of 2022

Brand deals across women’s sports have increased 20% year-over-year

SponsorUnited's inaugural Women In Sports 2022 report analyzes brand partnerships for both collegiate and professional sports across teams and individual athletes.

The report found that 3,500 brands bought a total of 5,650 sponsorships or media across 14 professional women’s leagues and collegiate NIL athletes. It also revealed that 1,110 brands bought a total of 2,185 sponsorships or media across individual professional and college female athletes.

“While women’s sports have always faced a variety of disparities in the industry, their ability to win over audiences and drive an exceptionally high level of engagement for brands is undeniable,” said Bob Lynch, CEO and founder of SponsorUnited. “In recent years, attendance, viewership and social engagement for women’s sports and athletes has spiked, leading to long-overdue financial backing through investments and sponsorships that are visibly paying off and should only continue to accelerate.”

Key findings include:

Alex Morgan is the most endorsed female athlete of the yearThe National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) player scored 27 brand deals in 2022, which is more deals than any NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS or NHL athlete. Morgan leapfrogged over Ali Krieger, Serena Williams and Naomi Oasaka, the top three most endorsed female athletes in 2021. She has partnerships with Coca-Cola, Google, Chipotle, Michelob Ultra and AT&T, among others.

Partnership deals across women’s sports have increased 20% year-over-yearSponsorships with women grew 20% year-over-year across the major US sports (LPGA, NWSL, WNBA, WTA), top European soccer leagues (Women’s Super League and Liga F), and Big Bash League, AFL, NRL Telstra Premiership, Netball Superleague, Suncorp Super Netball and World Netball. Finance brands–which are already the most active sponsorship category among women’s sports–upped their sponsorship game by 30%, followed by Apparel & Accessories and Media to round out the top-three brand verticals.

Women’s golf outnumbers all other women’s sports for brand dealsWith 940 brand deals in 2022, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) saw a 30% increase in deals from the previous year and an 18% increase in new brand partnerships. Notable partnerships include Coca-Cola, Rolex and Epson. The LPGA held a 17-deal lead over the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which had 923 deals in 2022, followed by the National Women’s Soccer League, which had 496 deals.

Nike is the #1 sponsor for both professional and collegiate sportsNike has sponsorships with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NWSL, Women’s Big Bash League (Cricket), Netball and the LPGA, and with more than 60 athletes. Nike also sponsors five collegiate athletes and partners with 68 colleges. Trailing Nike is Adidas, the second top brand partner for both professional and collegiate sports.

This Sunday, Etihad Stadium will host the 188th edition of one of the greatest football games of the season: the Manchester Derby, with both Manchester United and Manchester City vying for the win to move up the ranks of the Premier League. Off the pitch, let’s compare the teams’ endorsement deals and social media clout.

Since 2008, when Man City was bought by the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mansour, the team had won the Premier League 6 times.

Man City's success has attracted a slew of brand partnerships: the team has 69 sponsorship and media deals, while Manchester United has 60. In terms of sponsorships only, Man City’s 56 deals eclipse Man U’s 30.

Manchester United has long been considered the most popular Premier League club with the widest fan base worldwide, making them one of the more exclusive teams in the league. Man U leads the Premier League on social media with an astonishing 184.7M followers combined across all channels. Man City ranks a distant 5th by this metric with 98.2M followers. Man U also dominates in total engagement with 21.5M followers–an average of 1.9M per brand–compared to Man City’s total engagement of 8.3M and per-brand average of 270K.

In the last year, Man U’s following grew 28% (vs. 16% for Man City), thanks largely to the team’s re-signing of Portuguese superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo in August 2021. The English club gained over a million followers in the two hours after the club announced the news.

Ronaldo’s staggering 733.1M followers across all social media–almost 3x more followers than both Manchester teams combined–make him the most followed (and arguably influential) person in not just football but in the world. His 23 deals leverage this unrivaled influence: his total engagement of 196M nets out to an average of 12.2M per brand and 2.2M per post.

Meanwhile, Man City star player Kevin De Bruyne currently has deals with 8 brands and a gross social following of 43.5M, and teammate Erling Haaland has 7 deals and tallies over 20M followers. Notably, Haaland’s posts with Dolce & Gabbana, Hyperice, Samsung, and MICROMILSPEC have racked up 10M engagements this year.

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The 2022/23 Champions League group stage draw took place today in Istanbul, Turkey. As the countdown to the UEFA showpiece competition begins, let’s see how the kit suppliers and jersey sponsors stack up among the 32 qualified clubs.

Nike supplies over 42% of the teams that qualified directly, trailed by Puma and Adidas with the next largest share of this pool at 19% each. Nike only had one other club, Maccabi Haifa, in the playoff round of qualifying, and supplied 3 of the 4 Premier League automatically qualified teams. Brighton & Hove Albion (who finished 9th in the Premier League in 2021/22) are the only other Premier League team that has a deal with Nike. Nike also serves as kit supplier to Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) and RB Leipzig (Germany)–both owned by Red Bull, which is the primary jersey patch sponsor of both teams.

As apparel sponsor of Sevilla, Rangers and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, UK sportswear brand Castore will see its kit's appear in the Champions League Group Stage for the first time.

Twenty-seven brands are primary jersey patch sponsors of the teams in the Group Stage. But Unibet & Emirates (three), Betano, and Redbull (all two) will have Primary jersey patches on multiple teams in the Group stages.

Of the 32 qualified teams, Sports Betting is the most active category with 8 sponsorships, followed by Airlines with 5 deals and four categories with 3.

SponsorUnited was on the ground at the 2022 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge. Below are the top 3 most commonly seen brands during the Minneapolis-based event.

Event Activations:

AT&T

Old Spice

Bounty

ESPN Broadcast:

AT&T

GMC

Frontier Communications

Check out the graphic below to see how these brands activated during the event.

Real Madrid is set to play Eintracht Frankfurt today for the first time in 62 years in the UEFA Super Cup held in Helsinki.

Checkout the brands that will gain most exposure on the field during the match.

Three European Football Leagues begin their new season this week: English Premier League, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1.

Betway and Coca-Cola had dominant appearances on and off the pitch during the 2021-22 season. Which brands plan to make their mark this season?

To view more insights about European Football download our full report: https://sponsorunited.com/2021-22-european-football-partnerships/

The UEFA2022 Women's Euro–which wrapped up in London on Sunday–garnered record attendance across the entire tournament, doubling it from 2017 for a new record of nearly 575,000 spectators.

The final match–which saw England win its first-ever major women’s championship with a 2-1 victory over Germany–also set new records for attendance and broadcast viewership, with over 87,000 fans and 17.5 million viewers in the UK, respectively.

Fifteen brands leveraged the tournament’s unprecedented spotlight as sponsors, with visibility on social media and at the venues. Healthcare brand Grifols’ many sponsorship assets included signage on the video board, sponsored content via email, and social media posts of the tournament’s top scorer, Beth Mead.

Heineken had a unique opportunity as presenting sponsor of the pregame warm-up for some of the matches, which included a live DJ set.

As the presenting sponsor of the “player of the match” for all 31 games, VISA enjoyed prime positioning, with its logo front and center on the trophy. VISA also scored the most social posts with the UEFA Women’s Champions League with 72–nearly double those of second-place Heineken.

VISA’s social posts with the UEFA outnumbers all other brands in 2022, while Heineken scored the highest total engagement with the league, with 160,000 followers across 46 posts. Heineken also leads in highest average engagement per post, at over 3,000 followers.

VISA and Heineken also created campaigns celebrating women’s empowerment surrounding the tournament. Heineken launched a campaign in May that encourages fans of all genders to show their passion for women’s football. VISA’s campaign, unveiled last month across audio, digital, and print formats, leveraged the tagline, "When more of us play, all of us win," in homage to female athletes.

SponsorUnited released ​​the first international partnerships report focused on European football. Jersey exposure is a significant asset for brands to leverage with the prominent logo position. For more insights, check out the full report.

• No surprise, Apparel & Accessory giants Nike and Adidas lead the way with 62 team partnerships (34%). The largest number of deals are in Spain (50%) and least amount are with Italian teams (17.5%)

• Italy has the most suppliers with 17 unique brands

• There is a relatively even split between primary and secondary leagues (18 different brands av. 5.4 teams each v. 20 @ 5.2)

• Castore have announced their plans for European expansion (already supplying Newcastle and Wolves) signing up Aston Villa, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Sevilla and UD Almeria for 22/23

• With nearly 170 kit deals, Ligue 1 is the most popular league for brands to sign a jersey kit sponsorship with

• 40% of brands purchased both a primary and a practice jersey patch with the same team

• The highest sub-category for primary jersey patches was Betting Services with 18, despite being banned in 20% of the leagues

Download Now: https://sponsorunited.com/2021-22-european-football-partnerships/

The first international sponsorship and marketing report focused on European football.

The 2021-22 European Football Partnerships Report is fortified by data from over 7,000 brands across more than 9,000 deals and from 10 of the top European football leagues (Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1, along with each league’s corresponding second tier.) This report also contains growth and engagement insights on over 2,750 brands that created collaborative social media content.

Key findings from the report include:

• Construction is the most active sponsorship category for the third consecutive season across European football leagues.

• While Betting deals have declined by 10%, Crypto deals have grown an impressive 140% this season.

• The most searched brands by European football club executives were Crypto.com, FTX, DraftKings, Verizon and Dunkin’.

• Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi now officially have over 1B followers combined due in part to joining new clubs.

• Transferring teams can offer a huge boost in social following for players.

This report was compiled using SponsorUnited’s proprietary platform data from July 2021 through May 2022. Social data compiled from property or person-controlled Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and LinkedIn accounts and social activity. The leagues included in this report are as follows: Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, EFL Championship, LaLiga 2, Serie B, 2. Bundesliga, Ligue 2.

Last Saturday, Real Madrid raised their 14th Champions League trophy, making them the most successful team in the history of the tournament, with a total of 14 UCL trophies.

We broke down some of the top insights from the biggest soccer game of the year.

Up until Wednesday, the US Women’s Soccer team had to rely heavily on sponsorship deals to level out their income as professional athletes. While the Women’s National Soccer team outperformed the Men’s, there was a HUGE pay gap between genders.

Take a look at a few former and current Women’s Soccer players who capitalized on their skills on and off the field, and how they size up against the men..

Alex Morgan has secured 25 total deals over the past year with some of the most notable brands being Google, Coca-Cola and AT&T. Megan Rapinoe has also cashed in big with 15 total deals including commercials with Cliff Bar and Subway, alongside notable deals with Nike and Victoria Secret. Lindsey Horan has 10 deals most notably with Adidas, Quest Nutrition and Visible. These female athletes have been able to navigate a world with unequal pay and now get the chance to get equal pay and the ability to use their soccer talents to sign more endorsement deals.

On the flip side, Men’s players have seen less success on the field which can equate to less success off the field. Jozy Altidore (former player) & Christian Pulisic have less deals than most of their female counterparts, Altidore has six deals and Pulisic who is an up and coming star on the team has seven. Interesting to see the differences in endorsement deals when a team has been successful on the field as the USWNT has been over the last couple decades.

The final round of the FA Cup took place this weekend as Liverpool defeated Chelsea in a penalty shootout.

We compare the social media presence and deals of Chelsea striker, Romelu Lukaku, with Liverpool defender, Trent Alexander-Arnold.

In addition to being the first MLS club to win CONCACAF Champions League, the Sounders will also be the first to represent the league at the FIFA Club World Cup.

We highlight some of the activations and FS1 broadcast ads during the Sounders 2022 CONCACAF Champions League victory, which saw a record-breaking crowd of 68,741 fans.

Teams Compete on the Field in El Clásico, While Brands are Competing Off the Field

With a combined annual commercial turnover of €700m, this Sunday, two of the world’s biggest football teams Real Madrid and Barcelona, match up for the second El Clasico of the 2021/22 La Liga season.

The rivalries extend from the pitch to their partners with competitors utilizing the power of the clubs to gain market share in their categories. This can be seen with Nike (FCB) v Adidas (RM), Mahou (RM) v Estrella Damm (FCB), and Cupra (FCB) v Audi (RM). The outlier in this being Coca-Cola, who are the Soft Drink Partner of both clubs, despite Gatorade (PepsiCo) also being the Official Sports Nutrition Partner of FC Barcelona, in comparison to Powerade (Coca-Cola) for Real Madrid.

Most recently, Barcelona agreed to terms with Spotify on a mega 4-year deal worth north of $300 million. This deal marks the teams first with a digital audio company while Real Madrid currently does not have one. The deal sees Barcelona’s stadium renamed to Spotify Camp Nou while also getting exposure on the team's training kits.

Despite both teams having a social following of over 250M, Real Madrid leverages their social media more with over 1,200 sponsored posts (compared to FC Barcelona’s 450) resulting in over double the total engagement at 78.5M v FC Barcelona: 32.3M.

Both teams have global presence and awareness which can be seen through their partnership portfolio. Both teams have deals with large international brands Emirates (RM) and Rakuten (FCB) being the primary jersey patches, as well as smaller, regional deals with local and regional brands for the teams. Real Madrid has regional sponsors including KOK Sports (Asia) and RepX (LATAM), while FC Barcelona include Rakbank (UAE) and Taiping Life Insurance (China) among their partners.

Unlike what is being seen in the U.S., the betting category has shrunk dramatically across La Liga teams. This is due to new laws banning the advertisement of gambling companies across Spain, which had previously seen all La Liga sides having a betting partner in 2020/21, including seven with primary jersey patch deals.

This past week, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first person ever to pass 400 million followers on Instagram. Over the 18 years that Ronaldo has been playing professional soccer, he has been able to create a following around the world. Adding in Twitter, Facebook and TikTok, Ronaldo has well over 500 million followers across all social media platforms.

Taking advantage and leveraging his massive following are 20 brands currently within 13 categories. Ronaldo has an apparel deal with Nike which has posted his highest engagement score on social media of over 12.5 million. Other brands Ronaldo has partnered with include Altice, Herbalife, Therabody and Crunch Fitness. Interesting to note that the brands partnered with Ronaldo have headquarters not only in Europe where he plays soccer but also in other countries around the world as he is a global sensation.

The MLS has had a strong rise recently as the league saw a 40% increase in brands buying sponsorship or media from 2019. Although on the rise, the social media presence of some of the top athletes show the true power of being a soccer superstar around the world. Blase Matuidi, Christian Ramirez, Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) and Jonathan dos Santos each have secured over five endorsement deals ranging from apparel brands such as Nike and Puma to Modelo, BodyArmor and Quantum Energy Squares. The four athletes combined have a total Instagram following of just over 14 million which in total is just 3% of the entire following of Cristiano Ronaldo. The top 25 MLS athletes account for only 6% of Ronaldo’s 400 million.

The Consumer Products category as a whole saw the second-highest increase in volume of deals with the MLS last season. Procter & Gamble used MLS intellectual property to promote brands like Gillette, Old Spice and Crest through the season.

Stay tuned, the FREE SponsorUnited MLS 2021 Marketing & Partnerships Report is coming soon!

Inter Milan beat Juventus Football Club with a last minute winner in the Supercoppa Italiana, an annual competition played by the winners of Serie A and the Coppa Italiana.

The two teams showcase partnerships with brands including Jeep, adidas, Socios.com, and Nike. Both teams are also in the top five for most exclusive properties within Serie A, just behind A.S Roma and Genoa.