UEFA’s commercial arm, UC3, confirmed on 1 June it has entered an exclusive negotiation period with an unnamed betting company on a sponsorship package covering all men’s club competitions from 2027 to 2031.
The deal under discussion encompasses the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, Super Cup and Futsal Champions League finals. If concluded, it would be the first time a single gambling company has sponsored all UEFA club competitions simultaneously, ending a structure under which the competition portfolio has been split between two operators since gambling sponsorship entered the picture in 2024.
UC3 is a joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs that manages commercial rights to UEFA club competitions. The negotiations were initiated following an initial selection process conducted with partner agency Relevant Football Partners. UC3 confirmed the process on Monday without naming the operator.
Bet365 as Frontrunner
SportBusiness reported last week that <a href=” is in line to retain and expand its existing relationship with UEFA. The Stoke-on-Trent operator became the first gambling company to sponsor the Champions League when it signed a three-year deal with UEFA in the summer of 2024. That agreement is understood to have been worth approximately £150m and gave bet365 branding across LED boards, media backdrops and Champions League digital channels, along with rights to carry the competition’s branding on its own platforms.
Bet365’s current UEFA footprint extends beyond the Champions League. The operator holds official global sponsor status for the Futsal Champions League finals and sponsored the 2025 Super Cup, which saw Paris Saint-Germain face Tottenham Hotspur. A successful negotiation would bring the Europa League and Conference League into that relationship, completing the full competition set.
An arrangement of this scope would give bet365 brand exposure across the primary European club competitions for a four-year cycle, a position no gambling operator has previously held in European football.
Current Rights Holders
The deal under negotiation would replace a split structure. Kaizen Gaming’s Betano brand currently holds official global sponsor status for both the Europa League and Conference League. That deal, signed in 2024, runs to the end of the 2026-27 season, timing that aligns with any transition under the new cycle. In Greece and Cyprus, Stoiximan, which Kaizen Gaming operates on a B2B basis, appears as the sponsor in place of Betano for both competitions.
Before Kaizen Gaming’s entry, Entain’s bwin held the Europa League and Conference League rights. The progression from bwin to Betano to the current negotiation reflects how quickly gambling companies have moved to embed themselves at the highest levels of club football sponsorship.
Should the bet365 deal be confirmed, Kaizen Gaming’s European football sponsorship position at competition level would end when current agreements expire in 2027.
Wider Commercial Context
UC3 closed a separate commercial partnership on 29 May, naming Alibaba Group as global AI, cloud computing and ecommerce partner for UEFA men’s club competitions from 2027 to 2033 and for Euro 2028. The Alibaba announcement, combined with the gambling sponsorship process, reflects the scale of UC3’s commercial activity in advance of the new competition cycle.
Bet365 launched in France last week under the bet365.fr domain, entering with sports betting and plans to extend into online poker and horseracing. The French launch extends its regulated market footprint as it pursues what would be its most significant sports rights agreement to date.
UC3 has not provided a timeline for when negotiations are expected to conclude or confirmed the identity of the operator. The current Champions League deal, should bet365 be involved, runs through the 2026-27 season before any new arrangement would take effect.
Source: UC3
