Coral Signs its First Ever Shirt Sponsorship with Birmingham City

Coral will be the front-of-shirt sponsor of English Championship football club Birmingham City in the 2026/27 season, marking the Entain-owned brand’s first move into front-of-shirt sponsorship, at a time where interest in sponsoring Championship clubs could be growing.

Coral has been Birmingham’s official betting partner for the past two seasons. In the upcoming season, Coral will appear on the men’s and women’s home, away and third kits.

While Coral has previously sponsored many other sporting events and had official betting partnerships in place with other clubs, it has never previously been on the front of a football shirt in its 100-year history.

Hollywood focus

Birmingham has generated a high degree of media attention in recent years, primarily due to American football legend Tom Brady being a minority investor in the club.

Birmingham’s matches against Wrexham, who also play in the Championship, are often referred to as the “Hollywood derby”, due to Wrexham being owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

During last season, Coral donated £500 to charity for every goal scored in home matches by both the men’s and women’s teams, which led to more than £40,000 being donated to the Birmingham City Foundation. This initiative will continue into the upcoming season, with Birmingham’s first competitive game taking place on Saturday, 8 August.

Bejay Patel, Managing Director, UK and Ireland at Entain said:

“This is the first time in Coral’s history that we have become a front-of-shirt football sponsor and who better to do that with than Blues [Birmingham], a club that shares our long history and our passion in putting fans first.”

Betting sponsorship landscape

This is another sign of interest from betting brands in sponsoring Championship clubs, potentially in light of the removal of the possibility to agree front-of-shirt sponsorships in the Premier League. The Premier League has been implementing a voluntary ban on this practice since the end of last season.

Earlier this summer, Midnite extended its training kit sponsorship with Championship club Southampton for both the men’s and women’s teams. The partnership has been expanded, with Midnite’s logo also set to appear on the back of shirt and the shorts for the men’s team in matches next season.

This followed sponsorship announcements Midnite recently made regarding three other Championship clubs. The operator will be principal partner of Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers, with those deals covering front-of-shirt sponsorship, and Midnite will also continue as front-of-shirt sponsor of Sheffield United for a second season.

Moving down a league further, League One club Leicester City recently extended its front-shirt sponsorship deal with BC.Game. This partnership will continue into its third season, having originally begun as a Premier League partnership when Leicester were playing in that league.

Unlicensed sponsorship consultation

Earlier this month, the UK government began a consultation on the idea of banning unlicensed gambling sponsorship in sport. Currently, it is possible for brands which operate outside the UK to sponsor teams based in or events happening within the UK.

While these operators are meant to geo-block their websites, they can still potentially be accessed via virtual private networks.

The ban would come into effect on a fixed date in August 2027, before the start of the 2027/28 football season, and would apply to any new unlicensed operator advertising or sponsorship contracts following the introduction of the legislation.

Any pre-existing contracts would be allowed to conclude under their original terms until August 2028.