Wildz is the new Schalke 04 sponsor

The online casino Wildz is the new sponsor of FC Schalke 04, as the traditional club from Gelsenkirchen announced in a press release a few days ago. But what is the gambling provider paying for the partnership and what do Schalke fans think of the new sponsor?

According to Statista, hardly any football club in the first or second Bundesliga can do without sponsors from the gambling sector these days. Accordingly, around three quarters of first division football clubs have at least one betting provider as a sponsor. In addition, around one in four first-division clubs has a casino or a casino as a sponsor. At the end of June last year, we therefore asked ourselves in an article whether Bundesliga clubs can still manage without gambling sponsors.

New addition for Royal Blue: Wildz becomes official sponsor

As FC Schalke 04 announced in a press release published on 17 October, a two-year partnership has been agreed between the Royal Blues and Malta-based Rootz Limited. Among other things, Rootz Limited operates the Wildz online casino, which is authorised in Germany.

In future, the Wildz online casino logo will be visible on the perimeter board in the Veltins Arena. In addition, the gambling provider's logo will also be visible on the video cube, which indicates the official number of spectators. The online casino will also have a presence on the Royal Blues' social media channels. It is not yet known how much money the Maltese gambling company has put on the table for the partnership with S04.

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The CEO of FC Schalke 04, Matthias Tillmann, is delighted with the new sponsor and commented as follows in the press release:

‘As in football, Wildz focuses on the idea of fair play and the fun of the game. The company works with the world's leading game providers and offers entertaining and responsible gameplay’.

And what does Wildz say about sponsoring the German second-division football club? Wildz Managing Director Sam Brown, commented in the press release as follows:

‘We are extremely excited to be partnering with FC Schalke 04, one of Germany's most traditional clubs’.

The official press release can be found online.

And what do the fans say about the new gambling sponsor?

As is usual with sponsorship deals from gambling companies, many fans are also taking to the barricades in this case. On X (formerly Twitter), fans are venting their anger and have no sympathy for the fact that their club is advertising for an online casino. Among other things, they said:

‘This is absolutely not on, it's more than disappointing and incomprehensible’.

‘Please reconsider and stop as soon as possible’.

‘This says it all about how the club is doing financially’.

In fact, the financial situation of the traditional club from Gelsenkirchen has often not looked good in the past. Back in March 2021, we at GambleJoe reported on the impending sale of the e-sports division due to financial difficulties.

However, it is also a fact that Schalke 04 is of course not the only professional club with gambling companies as partners. In the past few months alone, we have regularly discussed sponsorship deals between professional clubs and gambling providers. We last reported on the continuation of the partnership between Löwen Entertainment and SV Elversberg at the beginning of October.

Image source: https://schalke04.de/tag/wildz/