English soccer’s top-tier Premier League (EPL) has confirmed a four-year global commercial deal with renowned beer brand Guinness.
The tie-up, first reported in late April, runs for the 2024-25 to 2027-28 cycle and marks Guinness’ first-ever global partnership in soccer. It replaces Budweiser, owned by brewing giant AB-InBev, in this role.
The agreement is reported to be worth £52 million ($66.8 million).
Guinness becomes the official beer of the EPL, with its Guinness 0.0 brand as the league’s official non-alcoholic beer. The Diageo-owned brand also becomes the league's responsible drinking partner.
Budweiser has been an EPL sponsor since the beginning of 2019-20 and has also been a major sponsor of the knockout FA Cup competition in recent years (before losing that slot to Carling in early 2023).
Guinness has been primarily a rugby union sponsor as opposed to soccer in recent years.
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By GlobalDataMost prominently, the Diageo brand is a major sponsor of the Six Nations European national teams competition in rugby union and holds naming rights for that competition’s women’s edition. It also has a deal in place with the English Rugby Football Union body.
Guinness will “use its distinctive marketing, creative advertising, and history of activating world-class sports sponsorships to create fun and engaging fan experiences” through the EPL deal.
Other major EPL commercial partners include NIKE, Barclays, Hublot, EA Sports, Oracle, and Panini.
According to Sky News, Barclays is in advanced talks over renewing its tie-up with the EPL, through a four-year deal worth £75 million.
The proposed agreement with the bank, to run between 2025 and 2029, was presented to the league’s 20 clubs last week.
Barclays was the league’s title sponsor between 2004 and 2016 and has slotted in as the EPL’s official bank ever since.
GlobalData estimated the value of the last deal between the two parties, unveiled in late 2021, was $15 million annually.