Liverpool wins sponsorship battle court case involving BetVictor
Mediator’s claim for compensation thrown out as judge rules deal was brokered directly between club and bookmaker
Premier League champions Liverpool have won a £1.1m court battle centred around its £15m training kit sponsorship deal with BetVictor.
Sports sponsorship firm Winlink demanded unpaid compensation for introducing senior Liverpool officials to the bookmaker back in 2013, with the subsequent sponsorship agreement running from 2016 to 2019.
However, Liverpool claimed then head of global partnerships, Rafaella Valentino, had secured the deal directly with BetVictor CEO Andreas Meinrad via their pre-existing relationship.
The original court hearing was held remotely in June, where Winlink’s barrister Andrew Sutcliffe argued the firm had “spent significant time and effort in building the relationship between Liverpool and BetVictor”.
On Monday, Judge Mark Pelling QC said that Liverpool and BetVictor’s partnership “owed nothing” to Winlink’s introductions.
He ruled: “The bargain on offer in 2016 was of a completely different order of magnitude from the transactions being contemplated in 2014 and 2015 and, further, was qualitatively different as well.
“The transaction was one that owed its genesis to the long-standing commercial relationship between Ms Valentino and Mr Meinrad,” Pelling added.
Pelling also cited emails sent from Valentino to Meinrad which labelled the sponsorship agreement as “an incredible package”, as well as confidential information concerning the club’s then sponsor Marathonbet, as evidence of the pair’s professional relationship.
BetVictor has since secured a two-year agreement to become the front-of-shirt sponsors of Premier League newcomers Fulham.