Burnley Scrap Finotive One Shirt Deal After Six Weeks, Replace with Vertu Motors
Burnley have torn up their shirt sponsorship deal with Finotive One after just six weeks, replacing the Cyprus-registered trading firm with long-standing partner Vertu Motors on the front of their shirts.
The club confirmed the termination in an official statement, expressing disappointment and saying it had acted decisively "to protect the club's interests and those of its supporters" (BBC Sport). All news stories about the Finotive One deal have been quietly removed from Burnley's official website.
The sponsorship had barely settled in. Burnley wore kits bearing the Finotive One logo throughout pre-season and into their first-round Carabao Cup tie against Notts County. Then Sky Sports' promo for a Sunday match showed defender Kyle Walker in a Burnley shirt with no sponsor on the front — a visual tell that something was wrong before the club's statement landed.
Vertu Motors, which has sponsored Burnley in some capacity since 2022, has now been elevated to front-of-shirt principal partner, as announced on the club's own website (Burnley FC).
The abrupt end to the Finotive One deal fits a pattern under Burnley's owners, AIK Capital, who bought the club in December 2020. Front-of-shirt sponsorship has been a recurring headache.
The club's first major deal under the new owners was a three-year agreement with betting brand LoveBet, which collapsed into financial difficulty after just two years. LoveBet was replaced by SpreadEx, a fixed-odds and spread betting company. Then came a one-season deal with Classic Football Shirts in 2022-23 — the only non-gambling sponsor of the AIK Capital era — followed by Philippines-based gambling firm W88.
In 2024, Burnley signed a two-year deal with 96.com, a betting website operated by TGP Europe. That arrangement drew a warning from the Gambling Commission, which alerted Burnley and three other clubs about their links to TGP Europe after the company surrendered its British gambling licence. An investigation found TGP Europe had failed to carry out sufficient checks on business partners and breached anti-money laundering rules.
Chairman Alan Pace wrote on X that the club's association with gambling would be reviewed as part of a broader commercial strategy. Every front-of-shirt sponsor under AIK Capital's ownership has been related to gambling except the Classic Football Shirts deal.
Finotive One, registered in Cyprus, describes itself as "an all-in-one ecosystem built for traders." The club has not specified what prompted the termination.
Separately, Macron Sportswear UK Limited has filed a claim against Burnley over an alleged breach of contract, according to the Burnley Express (Burnley Express).
For now, Vertu Motors — a name Burnley supporters already know — takes the spotlight. Whether this brings stability to a sponsorship saga that has rarely stayed quiet for long is the question the new season will answer.
