Newcastle United, the English Premier League soccer club, have secured South African sports drinks company Knox Hydration as their new front-of-shirt sponsor to replace outgoing partner Sela, the Saudi Arabian sport and events firm.
The deal comes shortly after the club launched their 2026-27 home kit without a sponsor, with previous primary partner Sela confirming it would not renew its three-year agreement, which came to an end at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.
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According to The Athletic news outlet, the new deal with Knox Hydration is worth around £60 million ($80.5 million) over the course of the three-year deal, with the club receiving around £10 million for the initial 2026-27 season due to the home shirt already being sold without Knox’s logo featured.
The fees will then increase to around £25 million per season for the remaining 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons, depending on bonuses being met.
The report added that the deal includes Newcastle and Knox collaborating to launch a drinks brand.
The new agreement builds on Knox Hydration’s three-year training ground naming rights agreement with Newcastle, which is worth £6 million per season. The agreement also includes the sleeve sponsorship on training wear for men’s, women’s, and academy teams.
The deal, struck in April, will see the club’s training center at Darsley Park officially renamed The Knox from July 1, with Knox Hydration made available across all levels of the club.
The partnership will commence this summer as the club prepares to open a renovated training ground as part of an ongoing £30 million expansion.
Knox also has a partnership in place as the official hydration partner of mixed martial arts promotion UFC, struck in January.
The latest Knox deal represents the biggest commercial deal so far under chief executive David Hopkinson (pictured, left) after he took charge last September.
The previous front-of-shirt deal with Sela, a firm owned by Newcastle’s ownership group, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, was worth reportedly worth £25 million per year.
Confirming its departure, Sela said: “Sela has concluded its highly successful principal partnership with Newcastle United, which delivered unforgettable experiences for communities and fans across Tyneside.
“Defined by innovation and a commitment to supporters, Sela received global acclaim for a succession of unforgettable activations, including the pioneering introduction of haptic shirts for the deaf community and a series of spectacular, immersive displays.”
Sela’s deal represented a significant uplift for the club ahead of the 2023-24 season, with GlobalData Sport estimating the annual value of its previous agreement with Asian betting group Fun88 as £6.5 million.
Meanwhile, fellow EPL side Leeds United have expanded their agreement with sports-focused technology and data analytics firm Kitman as they prepare for the 2026-27 season.
Under the expansion, Kitman will integrate its IP: Intelligence platform across the club’s first team, connecting it to the academy infrastructure that is already using Kitman.
Specifically, Leeds will use the company’s performance medicine, optimization, and coaching and development solutions across the first team, as well as Kitman’s IP Core for daily club operations and My iP, the platform’s reporting and visualizations layer.
Stephen Smith, founder and chief executive of Kitman Labs, said: “Leeds United is one of the most followed clubs in English football and a club clearly investing in its football infrastructure.
“What sets this kind of deployment apart is the connection between the Academy and the first team running on the same infrastructure. That continuity is what good development clubs have been working towards for years, and it is now in place at Leeds.”
The new deal expands Kitman’s presence within soccer, having worked across more than 2,000 teams, leagues, and federations, including clients in England’s EPL and WSL, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, and the US’ MLS and NWSL.
