How many sponsors are allowed on a football shirt?

Shirt advertising is generally permitted in football, even at amateur level. The front of the jersey and the sleeves in the upper arm area are intended as advertising spaces. With the exception of advertising for the sporting goods manufacturer, advertising on other parts of the match kit is only permitted if it is a uniform sponsorship measure of the league organisation or the association.

In principle, each club can have its own advertising partner for the official competitions for each team. The sponsoring partner may advertise a maximum of two of its products or two of its symbols in a match year. The advertising space on the front of the jersey may not exceed 200 cm² and only one product may be advertised per match. Advertising on the shirt sleeves is generally only permitted in the common interest of the league or association. The maximum advertising space here is 100 cm².

The following principles apply to any advertising space on football shirts: 

Advertising on football shirts is subject to authorisation for all teams participating in match operations. In order to obtain authorisation for shirt advertising, you must complete an application form at the start of the season. This can be found for the Football Association Mittelrhein (FVM) at www.fvm.de under "Service / Downloads" [l1]. At senior level, a fee is charged for the authorisation procedure, the amount of which depends on the division to which the team belongs and is as follows: Although jersey advertising for junior matches is subject to authorisation, it is free of charge. The authorisation procedure serves to take into account the general regulations of the DFB (German Football Association) described above. In general, authorisation is granted for the duration of a full season. In addition, the advertising partner must be entered in the corresponding section of the match report sheet for each match. An area is activated in the electronic match report for this purpose, which saves entries on request and adopts them for subsequent matches. The association can punish any offences involving unauthorised or generally inadmissible jersey advertising with severe fines. 

Many clubs are looking for sponsors and are wondering what the right strategy is for a small or medium-sized club. How do you get sponsors on board? And which jersey print is best suited for sponsor logos? In our article "Shirt sponsorship - how it works", we provide detailed insights into sponsorship strategies, shirt printing information and general regulations. Take a look at the article and let it inspire you for your football club.