1. FC Köln: Gauselmann Group is new premium partner

More and more gambling companies are becoming sponsors of German football clubs. The Gauselmann Group, headquartered in Espelkamp, will be the premium partner of 1. FC Köln for the start of the new Bundesliga season. The company had been working towards this partnership for some time. However, the new sponsor has not been well received by many of the club's fans.

Just a fortnight ago we reported that AdmiralBet was to become the new sponsor of second-division club SV 07 Elversberg. Now it has been announced that the billionaire Gauselmann Group will become the premium partner of 1. FC Köln. As a result, the famous yellow Merkur sun will now be visible at the RheinEnergieStadion as a trademark of the gambling company. More specifically, the Merkur sun will be prominently displayed on the advertising boards. The cooperation was agreed in time for the start of the new Bundesliga season 2023/2024 on 18 August. The "Merkur advertising" was seen for the first time a few days ago, on 26 August, when 1. FC Köln played its first home game of the season against VfL Wolfsburg. The match ended 2-1 in favour of Wolfsburg.

More and more German sports clubs cooperate with gambling companies

In recent weeks and months, the number of gambling companies partnering with German football clubs has continued to grow. Not only have we reported that AdmiralBet will be the new sponsor of SV 07 Elversberg. At the beginning of August, it was announced that StarGames would be the new sponsor of Hannover 96.

A few days later, another article was published on GambleJoe about Novoline becoming the new partner of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In any case, the Gauselmann Group is proud of the new partnership with 1. FC Köln. Manfred Stoffers, board member for marketing, communication and politics, had the following to say about the new sponsoring partner:

„We have wanted to become a sponsor of 1. FC Köln for many years because it stands for diversity and respect like no other football club in Germany. As an international family business with 15,000 employees from sixty nations and millions of visitors to our matches, this is of central importance to us."

The managing director of 1. FC Köln, Markus Rejek, is also satisfied with his new premium partner:

„We are very much looking forward to working with the Gauselmann Group. The company is one of the global players in the industry and has been involved in national football for a long time. We have found Gauselmann to be a very innovative, versatile and responsible company.“

As a result, there seem to be very few successful football clubs at the moment that can manage without a gambling operator as a sponsor. Only FC St. Pauli decided at the beginning of August to stop accepting sponsorship and advertising from betting companies.

The Gauselmann Group has also been sponsoring second-division club Hertha BSC for a few weeks now. Specifically, the Hertha jersey features an advertisement for the German online gambling shop Crazybuzzer.

Cologne fans are unhappy with new sponsor

However, most fans of 1. FC Köln do not like the new premium partner at all. On the platform X (formerly Twitter), fans reacted indignantly and cannot understand why the traditional club could choose a sponsor from the gambling sector. Specifically, one user wrote:

„What an absolute grab in the toilet! Shame on you! This is completely out of order.“

The official press release of 1. FC Köln can be found online here.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/fahne-flagge-logo-fußball-2972112/