Just weeks after signing a record-breaking new kit supply deal with hummel, Everton has secured a new deal to replace the current agreement with SportPesa. Tony McDonough reports
Everton Football Club has secured a new main shirt sponsor just weeks after signing a new kit supply deal worth up to £30m.
Digital car purchasing platform, Cazoo will feature on the front of Everton’s first team playing and training kits for the men’s team from the 2020/21 season in what the club is calling a “multi-year partnership”. The value has not been disclosed.
In May the Blues announced that it had agreed a record-breaking kit deal with sportswear brand hummel which is believed to be worth double its previous deal with Umbro. The three-year agreement is understood to be worth up to £10m a year over three years.
Cazoo, founded by British entrepreneur Alex Chesterman – the digital innovator behind LoveFilm and Zoopla – is a digital platform that makes buying a car as simple as purchasing any other product online. Since its launch in late 2019, UK consumers have been using the platform to buy cars online and have their new vehicles delivered to the door.
Everton chief executive, Denise Barrett-Baxendale said: “We have been impressed with the approach that Cazoo has taken and are confident that they will be a great partner for the club and our fans in the years to come.
“We are looking forward to working closely with them and are in no doubt that the values of Cazoo and the company’s focus on innovation and future development complement perfectly our own ambitions as we embark on an exciting new chapter for the club.”
The partnership between Everton and Cazoo will start at the end of the 2019/20 season. As well as Cazoo’s branding taking pride of place on the shirts of the Everton senior men’s squad and under-23s side, the logo will be prevalent across Goodison Park, official club merchandise, all of the club’s digital platforms and on Everton’s media backdrops.
The partnership complements Everton’s commercial development strategy and means that, for the first time since the 2003/04 season, replica kits featuring the club’s main partner branding will be available to purchase in junior and children’s sizes.
Alex Chesterman, the founder chief executive of Cazoo, has been named the UK’s Entrepreneur of the Year and was awarded an OBE for services to digital entrepreneurship in 2016.
He said: “We are really excited to be partnering with Everton, a family club with a rich heritage and a passionate and loyal fanbase. This opportunity will help significantly enhance our brand awareness as we look to make Cazoo a household name.
Cazoo will replace SportPesa on the front of the Everton shirt for the 2020/21 season and is set to be the only British owned brand as the main sponsor of a Premier League club next term.