Burnley Ends Finotive One Sponsorship Deal for Vertu Motors

Burnley have torn up their front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Finotive One just days before the new season kicks off, scrapping an agreement that was only signed 42 days ago and scrambling to replace it with Vertu Motors.

The club confirmed on Friday that the partnership with the Cyprus-registered “trading ecosystem” had been ended “to protect the club's interests, and those of our supporters”, but have swerved every question about what triggered such a dramatic U-turn. Whatever the reason, it will not be cheap.

Fans who bought the 2026-27 home or away shirts bearing the Finotive One logo have been offered full refunds or exchanges. Some supporters may decide to hang on to them as curios, a snapshot of a sponsorship that barely made it out of pre-season. Most are expected to trade them in for the hastily rebranded version, now carrying the name of UK-wide car dealership Vertu Motors.

Two weeks ago, Burnley were proudly unveiling their new cream away kit in a slick, big-budget video. JJ Watt, the former NFL star and minority investor, fronted the campaign. James Anderson, the England cricket great, appeared. Arnold Schwarzenegger even made a cameo. The clip was pushed out with fanfare.

Now it is redundant. The shirts have been pulled from the club’s online store, and there will be no Finotive-branded kit on sale at Turf Moor before Sunday’s Premier League opener at home to West Ham United.

The first public hint that something was amiss came on Thursday. Sky Sports’ promotional material for the West Ham game showed Kyle Walker in a Burnley shirt stripped of any sponsor. That jarred. Vincent Kompany’s side had worn Finotive One across their chests throughout pre-season. Even last Saturday, in the Carabao Cup first-round tie against Notts County, the logo was still emblazoned on the jersey.

Then the digital trail started to vanish. Supporters noticed that all news articles about the Finotive One deal had quietly disappeared from Burnley’s official website. By Friday morning, the club’s statement confirmed the inevitable: the agreement was over, less than six weeks after it began.

For Burnley, this is not unfamiliar territory. The Lancashire club have been here before with shirt sponsors.

LoveBet, an Asian betting brand, signed a three-year deal but vanished from the front of the shirt after just two seasons when the company ran into financial trouble. That exit came in the wake of the club’s takeover by AIK Capital in December 2020.

At the time, new chairman Alan Pace publicly acknowledged concerns about Burnley’s heavy association with gambling companies. He wrote on X that the issue would be considered “as part of the overall commercial strategy for the club”, while warning there were “historic contractual obligations” to navigate. It sounded like a pivot away from betting was coming.

It never truly arrived. Under AIK Capital’s ownership, gambling firms have dominated Burnley’s commercial landscape. With the exception of a single-season deal with Classic Football Shirts in 2022-23, every front-of-shirt sponsor in that era has been linked to betting until this campaign.

LoveBet gave way to SpreadEx, a fixed odds and spread betting operator. After the brief respite with Classic Football Shirts, the space went to Philippines-based gambling company W88. In 2024, Burnley signed a controversial two-year agreement with 96.com, a betting website run by TGP Europe.

That partnership drew the attention of the Gambling Commission. Last year, Burnley and three other clubs received formal warnings over their links to sites operated by TGP Europe, which had already surrendered its British gambling licence. Investigators concluded the company had failed to conduct “sufficient checks on business partners” and had breached “anti-money laundering rules”.

So when Burnley went looking for a replacement for 96.com, they veered into less familiar territory. Finotive One, registered in Cyprus and billing itself as an “all-in-one ecosystem” for traders, was an unconventional choice. Little was publicly known about its operations or its client base. On paper, though, the deal looked lucrative. It was attractive enough for Burnley to build their entire kit launch around it.

Now that arrangement has collapsed before a ball is kicked in the league.

Into the gap steps Vertu Motors. The dealership group already had a sponsorship relationship with Burnley dating back to 2022 and has now moved onto the most visible real estate at the club: the front of the shirt. The exact terms of the new agreement have not been disclosed, but with the season about to start and the previous deal in tatters, Burnley’s bargaining power would have been limited.

What is clear is the cost in embarrassment. A fanfare launch featuring global names. A pre-season played in one sponsor’s colours. A full set of shirts printed, sold, and then recalled. Six weeks later, the logo is gone, the promotional campaign is consigned to the archive, and Burnley are starting the season with yet another new name on their chest.

For a club still trying to define its identity under AIK Capital, the question now is whether this latest scramble finally forces a clean break from the chaotic pattern of recent commercial deals. Or whether the front of the shirt remains a revolving door.