From Bohs to Barca: How to Make Kit Sponsorships Matter
Bohemians FC dominated every Irish festival and cultural event this year. From gigs to festivals to marches, the Dalymount club have woven their fabric into Irish culture and fashion so intrinsically that they have transcended football. Bohs have shown that when you invest in partnerships aligned with the values of both your club AND fans, you can build lasting brand equity and drive revenue growth beyond short-term cash grabs.
If you ask most football fans what the most important thing in football is, I’m sure most would have one simple answer - winning games and winning trophies. Some might say playing attractive football, beating the first man from a set piece, knee slides on a rainy night. The list goes on, all as valid as each other.
Personally, I just want to feel connected to the club I love. I want to feel like everyone from the board and the players to the manager and the fans… share the same values and vision for what the club stands for and how it should conduct itself. I’d argue that this alignment and shared vision are rarer and harder to find nowadays than silverware. Clubs have ebbs and flows, but when that feeling of true belonging is achieved… It's just magic. And it makes the on-pitch success ten times sweeter.
I think a lot of fans of modern football have been starved of that over the past decade. We find ourselves in a footballing era increasingly defined by billion dollar takeovers, oil-funded sports-washing projects, and some morally dubious or somewhat empty sponsorships. Insert “the game’s gone” quote here.
So many modern football clubs have firmly lost touch with the people who pour their life, soul and wallets into the endless devotion of their clubs. The connection between clubs and their communities that built them is eroding through a relentless pursuit of profit.
For the 25/26 season, more than half of the English Premier League clubs have betting companies as their front of kit sponsor. This comes in lieu of major stars like Sandro Tonali and Ivan Toney receiving 18 months worth of bans between them for breaching betting regulation laws on platforms similar to the ones they wear on their chest.
As a fan of a club who has a betting company on the front of their kit and regularly buys the sponsor-less kits to avoid this, I am always very jealous of clubs who appear to pick their sponsors for reasons beyond the amount of zeros on the cheque.
Amidst the storm, a handful of clubs are swimming against the tide. These clubs are proving that commercial partnerships don’t have to come at the expense of authenticity or soul.
Through thoughtful, culturally aligned kit sponsorships, clubs can offer their fans belonging, shared identity, and pride. When a brand can come in and elevate that feeling of belonging, the results for both club and brand can be exponential both commercially and culturally.
Cultural Bohemians
It is hard to see Bohemians FC release another kit without being reminded of that one tweet saying “Did you know that Dublin-based fashion brand Bohemians also play football?”
But it’s true - Bohemians FC have genuinely established themselves as more than just a football club. Wearing a Bohs jersey is a statement that people believe in and connect with.
This is the kind of brand power that resonates far beyond the pitch, and it’s a lesson to the wider world of sports sponsorship that connecting your fans through sponsorship can potentially be more commercially beneficial in the long term than a quick, easy cash grab.
Bohs have built a powerful reputation for using their kits as vehicles for social impact, collaborating with iconic brands and artists to raise substantial funds for a range of charitable causes.
Earlier this year, Bohemians unveiled their 2025 third kit in collaboration with Fontaines D.C., inspired by the band’s Romance album. More than just a football jersey, the kit became a powerful statement of solidarity with the people of Palestine. The initiative raised an impressive €199,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians, including a €60,000 donation by Bohs themselves.
This wasn’t their first collaboration with Fontaines. Their 2021 collab moved thousands of jerseys with profits going towards Focus Ireland’s work for the homelessness. More recently, a co-branded kit celebrating Oasis’ comeback tour was released to mass appraise and hype. 50% of the profits went to Music Generation Ireland and Irish Community Care Manchester.
Other standout kits include tributes to Bob Marley and Thin Lizzy, supporting asylum-seeker youth and disadvantaged music programs, while a Guinness collab kit raised funds for Pride initiatives in Dublin.
Beyond the brand value that Bohs have built for themselves, the club now accounts for 25% of the League of Ireland’s total commercial and merchandise revenue. The club has experienced a 2,000% surge in merchandise revenue, with annual away kit sales rising from roughly 100 to 30,000. Nearly half of their €4.5 million yearly turnover now comes from merchandise, which has grown from €100,000 in 2014 to €2 million last year.
Truthfully, football doesn’t matter to a lot of people who have purchased a Bohs kit. I’d love to think Greta Thunberg is keeping an eye on the League Of Ireland table as Bohs chase Rovers for 1st place, but I can’t imagine she is. The league table doesn’t really matter. Not to Greta anyways, and not to many fans who have bought a Bohs jersey.
Bohemians FC has established itself as a market leader in forging value-driven partnerships that align seamlessly with the ethos of the club, the objectives of its sponsors, and the passion of its rapidly growing fan base. These collaborations have not only delivered sustained commercial success and long-term brand equity but have also generated meaningful social impact.
Barcelona and Spotify
Barcelona FC (No offence, Bohs) are operating on a completely different scale of global market size. Yet, the two clubs share similar cultural make-ups.
With a strong connection to Catalan identity and a democratic membership-based ownership, their progressive values are reflected in their "More than a Club" slogan. They have repeatedly showcased social responsibility through initiatives in education, healthcare and advocacy against discrimination by showing strong support for LGBTQ+ rights and diversity initiatives.
Barcelona famously haven’t had a shirt sponsor for most of its history before giving space to UNICEF from 2006–2011. While they have deviated in recent years (partnering with Qatar Airways and a Japanese technology conglomerate called Rakuten) their most recent partnership with Spotify has shown a culturally driven direction that feels more in step with the club’s values and global identity.
Earlier this year, Barcelona unveiled a new home jersey ahead of their El Clásico derby with Real Madrid. Barcelona’s usual Spotify branded sponsorship was replaced with rapper Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack branding. The jersey was released online and sparked record sales. Some of these limited-edition kits are on resale right now on StockX for over €1300.
This collaboration marks the most successful in a series of artist-led jersey swaps introduced by Spotify since becoming Barcelona’s sponsor in 2022. For each El Clásico, Spotify gives up prime branding space to spotlight a featured artist like Drake and Rosalia.
Barcelona’s partnership with Spotify stands out as a rare example of a football club securing a major commercial deal that is aligned with their cultural identity, fanbase, and sense of purpose. This collaboration managed to merge football, music, and storytelling in a way that speaks directly to the values and history of the club.
When the deal was announced in 2022, reportedly worth around €280 million over four years, many saw it as a lifeline for a club in financial disarray. But what’s remarkable is how Spotify and Barça have gone beyond the financials. This ultimately led to a bronze Cannes Lions award in 2023.
This has resonated commercially as well: the club has seen surges in shirt sales, particularly when special artist shirts were released, and Spotify itself has gained a foothold in an audience that’s both highly loyal and culturally engaged.
Paris Saint-Germain
Think Paris. Think luxury and elegance. Think fashion week runways, late-night jazz bars, haute couture and house music. Cobbled streets humming with style and sound. Paris’ cultural pulse sets trends globally. PSG have fused that Parisian ethos into every thread of their brand. Think Paris, think PSG.
This year, PSG finally won the Champions League 14 years after their Qatari takeover. A true underdog story, only taking billions of euros of player investment to bring this David versus Goliath storyline to life.
While general underachievement on the pitch preceded this year’s European glory, PSG built something arguably more enduring over the past decade - one of the biggest lifestyle brands in world football which resonates deeply with what Paris represents and what its fans connect to.
Launched in 2018, PSG’s partnership with Jordan Brand has become one of the most impactful collaborations in football. The famous Jumpman logo began appearing on PSG’s Champions League kits, and the collaboration quickly expanded into a global streetwear and fashion line. From Chicago’s South Side to the Champs-Élysées, the PSG × Jordan Brand partnership helped turn a football club into a global icon.
The collaboration birthed streetwear collections, limited-edition kits, and luxury fashion capsules like the Jordan Wings x PSG line. This made PSG highly visible in circles like sneaker culture, rap music, and fashion weeks.
In the first season alone, PSG broke past one million shirt sales, the first in the club’s history. The initial Jordan × PSG collection sold around 80,000 shirts in the opening weekend and 150,000 in the first month, generating an estimated €15 million in revenue. Shirt sales in the U.S. rose nearly 470% year-on-year, showing the brand’s power to grow PSG’s presence in markets well beyond France or traditional football strongholds.
The real strength of the partnership lies in its cultural positioning. PSG invested in a collaboration that reflected their city’s DNA and tapped into what their fans already lived and breathed, leveraging Jordan Brand’s deep roots in music, fashion, and youth culture to reframe its identity beyond just a football club.
Ultimately, PSG once again proved that when you invest in partnerships that reflect your identity, you don’t just grow revenue. You build relevance.
Think Preston… think potatoes
Preston North End, an English Championship club who recorded a record £20m in turnover last year, announced a front-of-kit sponsorship that felt like a breath of fresh air in a world full of generic corporate deals.
Spud Bros is a small, family‑run potato (jacket potato) business from Preston, founded by two local brothers, Jacob and Harley Nelson, who built their brand by selling potatoes out of a van and growing a social media presence (over 7 million total followers across all platforms). Now, they are front and centre of their boyhood club’s jerseys.
What makes this deal culturally resonant is how rooted it is in place. Preston has opted for a sponsor that reflects the community - a business with regional origin, personality, and local pride.
Preston’s CEO, Peter Ridsdale, described the pairing with Spud Bros as “a perfect match,” citing the brand’s growth, media awareness, and recognition, tied with Preston’s own storied history. Preston even offered free jacket potato vouchers to the first 2,000 fans who bought the new shirt at the launch.
That kind of activation shows the club isn’t simply extracting money; they’re seeking to build joy, shared experiences, and local goodwill.
In short, Preston’s Spud Bros deal ticks many of the boxes that fans seem to want when they think sponsorship done well: local roots, visible creativity, genuine personality, and meaningful community engagement. It shows that big money doesn’t always have to mean soulless deals. Being relevant to where you are can yield both commercial and cultural dividends.
Give us a reason to connect
Bohemians, Barcelona, PSG, and Preston North End have each shown that when commercial partnerships are chosen based on cultural alignment rather than short-term revenue, the returns in long-term brand equity and commercial revenue can both increase significantly.
While commercials are slightly easier to quantify, I personally put so much weight and importance on how these sponsorships allow fans to create deeper, closer relationships with their club.
Aligning sponsorships with what your club and fans intrinsically stand for is one of the most effective ways to increase revenue and build long-term brand value. They give us identity, purpose, and pride. When brands help clubs deliver that, everybody wins.
