The categories most likely to sponsor soccer can help rights holders identify who to target to have a better chance of securing sponsors

Rights holders often want to know which categories they should target to have the greatest chance of success in securing sponsorships.

To help answer this for soccer rights holders, caytoo analysed nearly 10,000 sponsorship deals signed around the world since the start of 2023.

This included all types of rights holder organisations including the likes of sports, entertainment, arts, fashion and business because there are two ways of measuring the “most likely”.

#1: Who does the most soccer sponsorships?

This method reveals that Gambling brands have signed the most soccer deals since the start of 2023 – accounting for 9.6% or nearly 1 in 10 soccer sponsorship deals.

So, along with the likes of Beverages and Foods, they’re a strong target to go after but that means there’s also a lot of competition and noise, with multiple rights holders targeting the same brands.

#2: Who is the most likely to choose soccer vs. any other rights holder?

Another way of understanding which categories to go after is to look at those which are most likely to do a deal in your field (e.g. soccer) versus choosing any other type of rights holder.

So, when it comes to who is the most likely to sponsor soccer, Construction firms lead the way. Specifically, Construction firms are 2.61x more likely to choose soccer versus anything else.

This is because they account for 2.28% of soccer sponsorships but only 0.87% of all other sponsorships (so, 2.28 divided by 0.87 = 2.61).

Construction firms are primarily driven by large housebuilding companies such as Barratt Homes and Persimmon Homes, who often undertake deals with rights holders local to major developments they’re working on. The purpose is two-fold: to show how they’re investing in the community and to drive awareness of these new developments. The category also includes general building firms that cover a wide range of industrial, commercial and residential construction projects.

Online Delivery Services are dominated by fast-food delivery brands. In a relatively new category, soccer’s popularity is an efficient way to generate mass brand awareness plus there’s also a natural ‘behavioural’ link between fans consuming fast food while watching their team play.