Huddersfield Town FC has welcomed a new global betting partner in the face of BK8. The partnership will extend through the 2021/2022 season and lead to various awareness and fan engagement initiatives.
BK8, which is primarily focused on Asia, is consolidating its footprint in the European soccer market, despite some hiccups insofar as gambling partnerships are involved. Previously, the club signed similar arrangements with a number of clubs across the continent, to name RCD Mallorca, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Villarreal CF, Valencia CF, and others, all in Spain.
Looking Towards the Future for a Multi-Year Partnership
BK8 has been maintaining a healthy relationship with individual players as ambassadors and face of its campaigns, including John Terry a former English national, and Robin van Persie, another retired Dutch national soccer player.
As is customary for such partnerships, BK8 will see its logo placed throughout various club assets, designed to boost brand visibility and awareness for its product. This will extend to perimeter signage, board advertising, and players’ non-matchday training kits. Huddersfield Town chief executive Mark Devlin said that the team was happy to be teaming up with BK8:
“We have spent a lot of time speaking to BK8 to understand their values. We’ve come to know the central team at BK8, and how they want to operate as a company.”
Huddersfield Town chief executive Mark Devlin
Devlin is hopeful that the partnership may expand beyond its current format and arrangement in the coming years.
More Activations on the Way
BK8 managing director for Europe Michael Gatt shared Devlin’s enthusiasm and said that the betting operator was equally excited to be the official global betting partner for the club:
“We are thrilled that they have been able to see the positive changes we have made as a brand in recent months to make this possible. In fact, we do have plans to work with Huddersfield in some grassroots activation in the coming months.”
BK8 managing director for Europe Michael Gatt
Partnerships such as these are not uncommon in English football. Presently, 15 clubs from the English Football League have ties with gambling partnerships. The partnership comes at a time when such front-of-shirt sponsorships are also losing their appeal due to regulation.
The one Huddersfield Town is negotiating avoids those pitfalls by focusing on assets that regulators or the general public do not object strongly to.