Birmingham City to Sell Shirt Sponsorship on a Game-by-Game Basis

English soccer club Birmingham City FC, who were relegated from the English Premier League last season despite winning the Carling Cup competition, have launched a new method of selling their shirt sponsorship rights for the forthcoming season.

The club are set to offer sponsorship on a match-by-match basis, which is a major shift away from the normal convention of a brand sponsorship a club shirt for at least the duration of a season.

Birmingham City’s shirt sponsor for the previous five seasons has been financial company F&C Investments.

Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion (WBA) have previously employed a similar strategy of match-by-match sponsorship, and the club said they had spoken to those two clubs about the strategy.

Ian Dutton, Birmingham City’s commercial manager, said: “The commercial team have been working hard since relegation to find a suitable brand to work with the football club and, unfortunately, we had a number of offers that didn’t match the price that we valued our shirt sponsorship to be.”

Birmingham City executives believe the move will give the club added flexibility and will allow it to build stronger relationships with the local community and charitable organisations.