Manchester United signs sleeve sponsorship deal with SumUp

Manchester United has agreed a multi-million pound, multi-year shirt sleeve sponsorship deal with British fintech company SumUp, filling a slot left vacant since its four-year partnership with DXC Technology ended in the summer. The SumUp branding debuts on Thursday when United host Azerbaijan champions Sabah at Old Trafford in the Champions League, and will be worn by the men's, women's and academy teams across all competitions. United also plan to launch a co-branded payment card with SumUp offering fans rewards at club outlets and UK businesses. The deal follows a separate £20 million-per-year Betway training kit agreement confirmed five weeks earlier.

Manchester United is an English Premier League football club based at Old Trafford, one of the most commercially valuable clubs in world football, which returns to Champions League competition this season.

SumUp is a London-headquartered fintech founded in 2012, providing payment terminals, point-of-sale systems and business banking tools to more than 4 million small merchants across more than 30 countries. The company was valued at around €8 billion in its most recent funding round and became Newcastle United's Official Training Kit Partner earlier this year.

The deal extends SumUp's Premier League presence beyond its recently confirmed Newcastle United training kit partnership, giving the fintech visible branding on two clubs within weeks of each other rather than a single exclusive association.

Manchester United chief business officer Marc Armstrong said SumUp was a rapidly growing global business and that the club was delighted to welcome it as official sleeve partner, describing the agreement as supporting the club's commercial growth strategy and reflecting Manchester United's continued appeal as a platform for ambitious brands.

The sleeve deal replaces DXC Technology, whose four-year partnership ended in the summer, and follows five weeks after United's separate £20 million-per-year training kit agreement with gambling company Betway, giving the club two new major kit sponsors inside a matter of weeks.

For the sector, SumUp's rapid expansion across multiple Premier League clubs illustrates how fintech and payments providers are increasingly using football sponsorship at scale across several clubs simultaneously, rather than a single marquee partnership, to build broad brand recognition ahead of a possible stock market listing.

Source: BBC Sport