Some of the funniest shirt sponsors in Premier League history were the ones that felt wonderfully out of place on a football kit: a Thai beer across Everton’s chest for more than a decade, a crisp brand on Leicester City shirts, a Chinese mobile phone maker most fans had never heard of, video game publishers, boot brands and even a payday lender. Many of them made supporters laugh at the time, and plenty have since become cult classics that fans hunt down and wear with pride.
What makes these sponsors memorable isn’t just the logos themselves. It’s the way they capture a particular moment in football and in everyday life, from the gadgets and snacks of the 1990s to the fast-changing brands of the 2000s and 2010s.
Why Some Sponsors Make Fans Smile
Shirt sponsorship arrived in English football in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and by the time the Premier League launched in 1992, every club had a company logo across the front of its kit. Most sponsors were sensible choices, such as electronics firms, car makers or banks, but some combinations were simply odd. A serious, hard-tackling side playing in a shirt advertising a snack or a drink created a contrast that fans couldn’t help noticing.
Local connections often explain the strangest pairings. Clubs frequently signed deals with nearby businesses or companies linked to their owners, which led to sponsors that meant a great deal to local supporters but puzzled everyone else. Other sponsors came from overseas companies trying to reach a global audience through Premier League broadcasts.
Time plays its part as well. A logo that looked modern in 1995 can look charmingly dated today, especially for companies that no longer exist or products that belong firmly to another era. That nostalgia is exactly why many of these shirts are now so popular.
Food and Drink Sponsors That Became Cult Classics
Everton’s long partnership with Chang beer is one of the best-known examples. The Thai brewer’s elephant logo appeared on Everton shirts from 2004 to 2017, and over time it became so closely associated with the club that many younger fans couldn’t imagine the shirt without it. For supporters, the Chang era shirts now feel like a symbol of a particular generation at Goodison Park.
Leicester City’s shirts carried the name of Walkers, the crisp maker with strong roots in the city, during the 1990s. It was a fitting local link, but seeing a snack brand on a Premier League shirt still made plenty of fans smile, and those kits remain a nostalgic favourite for Foxes supporters.
Tottenham Hotspur’s shirts featured Holsten, the German lager brand, across several seasons, and Newcastle United fans of a certain age still remember the Newcastle Brown Ale logo on their famous black-and-white stripes. Drinks sponsors like these were a common sight in the early Premier League years, long before rules and attitudes around alcohol advertising began to change.
Tech and Gadget Logos From Another Era
Technology sponsors often date the fastest. Manchester City’s shirts carried the name of Brother, better known for printers and typewriters, through much of the 1990s, before switching to Eidos, the video game publisher behind the Tomb Raider series, around the turn of the millennium. For fans who grew up in that period, both logos are instant reminders of the gadgets and games of the time.
Everton’s earlier deal with Kejian, a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer, raised eyebrows in the early 2000s because few British supporters had heard of the brand. The partnership was part of a wider effort to reach fans in Asia, and it came with the arrival of Chinese players at the club, making it an early example of the Premier League’s global ambitions.
West Ham United’s shirts once featured Dr. Martens, the boot and shoe brand, which suited the club’s working-class East London identity but still looked unusual on a football shirt. These logos show how much the sponsor landscape has changed, since today’s Premier League shirts are dominated by airlines, technology platforms and global financial brands, and you can browse them here to see just how different the current generation of designs looks.
Sponsors That Raised Eyebrows
Not every memorable sponsor was funny in a lighthearted way. Newcastle United’s deal with Wonga, the payday lender, from 2012 to 2017 drew criticism from fans, local politicians and campaigners who questioned whether a football club should promote high-interest loans. The controversy became a talking point far beyond football and fed a wider debate about which sponsors clubs should accept.
Some clubs chose sponsors that surprised fans in a more positive way. Aston Villa gave its shirt space to Acorns Children’s Hospice between 2008 and 2010, a decision widely praised by supporters. Seeing a charity instead of a commercial brand on a Premier League shirt was unusual, and those kits are still remembered fondly.
Wigan Athletic’s shirts carried the name of JJB Sports, the retail chain founded by the club’s then owner, a reminder of how closely some sponsors were tied to the people running the club. Deals like this blurred the line between business and fandom, and they’re now a nostalgic snapshot of the era.
Why Fans Now Collect These Shirts
The quirkiest sponsors have become some of the most collectable. Supporters enjoy wearing shirts that spark conversation, and a logo from a long-gone phone maker or a much-loved local snack brand does exactly that. Retro shirts also let fans celebrate specific eras, players and seasons that shaped their love of the club.
Nostalgia is a big driver. For many supporters, these shirts bring back memories of childhood matches, school playgrounds and the first time they watched their team on television. Wearing one today is a way of reconnecting with those moments and sharing them with friends or family.
There’s also a sense of humour in it. Football culture has always enjoyed a bit of irony, and wearing a shirt with an unexpected sponsor shows a fan’s knowledge of the game’s history as well as a willingness not to take everything too seriously.
Next time you’re watching a match with friends, ask everyone to name the strangest sponsor they remember on their club’s shirt. You’ll probably hear a few you’d forgotten, and it’s a fun reminder that some of football’s best stories aren’t about goals or trophies, but about the logos that became part of the game’s culture.
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