UEFA Allows Sleeve Sponsors

Jun 27, 2021

by Chris

For the upcoming 2021-2022 season, football government body UEFA is allowing clubs to display a sponsor on the sleeve of their shirts. This has been confirmed with the release of the new 2021 UEFA Equipment Regulations.

Sleeve sponsors have been authorized by the vast majority of soccer leagues and championships (since 2017-2018 in the Premier League)

New 2021 UEFA Equipment Regulations Allow Sleeve Sponsors On Left Sleeve

The sleeve sponsorship lands in the club competitions organized by UEFA, namely the Champions League, Europa League, and the UEFA Europa Conference League.

The logo must be placed on the left sleeve

Of course, there are a few rules for the sleeve sponsor. The sponsor must be placed on the left sleeve. It must no exceed 100 cm2 and the height of the letters must not exceed 12cm.

The sleeve sponsor rule is defined in Article 28.04 of the 2021 UEFA Equipment Regulations.

Sleeve sponsor:

A team may advertise for one single sponsor on the left sleeve, as follows:

The total area used for the sleeve sponsor must not exceed 100cm2.
The height of the sleeve sponsorship must not exceed 12cm.

In principle, the sleeve sponsor must also be used as sleeve sponsor on the playing shirt in an official domestic competition.
If no sleeve sponsor is permitted or used in any official domestic competition, the sleeve sponsor used must be either:

another playing attire sponsor (e.g. back of shirt sponsor, short sponsor); or
a non-playing attire sponsor used in an official domestic competition.

If a team has no sleeve sponsor that complies with paragraphs b or c above, it may replicate the front of shirt sponsor or use the team’s approved playing attire manufacturer as its sleeve sponsor.

Teams can have the logo of their manufacturer as its sleeve sponsor

What is also interesting is that teams can have the logo of their manufacturer as its sleeve sponsor.

French club Olympique Lyonnais was the first team to announce a sleeve sponsor for domestic and European competitions some days ago. MG Motor will be the new sleeve sponsor of the club until 2024. The MG Motor logo will be visible during the UEFA Europa League matches of the Lyon club for the 21-22 season.