Everton Strengthens Partnership with Christopher Ward through Training Kit Deal

Everton have tightened their long-running bond with Christopher Ward, naming the British watchmaker as the club’s first-ever official training kit partner in a multi-year agreement that pushes the brand into the heart of the club’s daily football operations.

This is not a fresh acquaintance. It is the latest step in a relationship that has quietly grown season by season. Christopher Ward first arrived at Everton as official global timing partner, then moved onto the shirt sleeve of the men’s first team, became a founding partner of Hill Dickinson Stadium, and attached its name to projects spanning Everton Women and Everton in the Community.

Now the logo moves where the work really happens.

Branding moves into the engine room

From the 2026/27 season, Christopher Ward branding will be emblazoned across the training wear of both the men’s and women’s first teams, placing the company’s identity on the pitches and in the gyms where Sean Dyche’s squad and the women’s side grind through the hours that shape their weekends.

The visibility will not stop at the training ground. The deal delivers prominent exposure across Everton’s social channels and matchday platforms, from LED advertising to media backdrops and in-stadium branding at both Hill Dickinson Stadium and Goodison Park. For a club entering a new stadium era, it is another commercial pillar locked into place.

The partnership stretches further still. From the 2027/28 campaign, Christopher Ward will also appear on the training kit of the Under-21s, Under-18s and Academy sides, extending the watchmaker’s presence across the pathway from youth to senior football. Supporters will see the same branding on all first-team replica training items available at retail, bringing the commercial tie-up directly into the fan wardrobe.

A stadium that tells the time

The announcement follows last season’s unveiling of 53° North at Hill Dickinson Stadium – billed as the world’s first premium watch showroom inside a sporting venue. It is an unusual, almost theatrical touch: a space that allows Everton supporters to step directly into the world of mechanical watchmaking, surrounded by the craft and precision that underpin Christopher Ward’s identity.

For Everton, it is another example of how the club is trying to use its new home not just as a football ground, but as a commercial and cultural hub. For Christopher Ward, it places the brand in front of tens of thousands of fans every matchday, in a setting that goes beyond a logo on a hoarding.

Andrew Middleton, Everton’s president of business operations, framed the new agreement as a natural escalation.

“Christopher Ward has been a bold, innovative and committed partner to Everton, and we are delighted to see that relationship continue to grow through this landmark agreement,” he said, highlighting the symbolism of becoming the club’s first official training kit partner and the move to embed the brand “directly within the environment where our teams prepare, develop and strive for excellence every day”.

Middleton pointed to Christopher Ward’s role as a founding partner of Hill Dickinson Stadium, the creation of 53° North and the company’s backing of Everton Women and Everton in the Community as evidence of a partner that “has consistently shown a genuine understanding of this club, our supporters and our ambitions for the future”.

Precision meets marginal gains

For Christopher Ward, the alignment is as much philosophical as it is commercial. CEO and co-founder Mike France drew a straight line between the microscopic margins of elite sport and the fine tolerances of watchmaking.

“We believe that excellence is built on the smallest details – whether in the precision of a mechanical watch or the marginal gains that define elite football,” he said.

“Becoming Everton’s first-ever training kit partner feels like a natural next step in our journey together. It builds on our presence both on and off matchday by embedding us even further into the club – in the daily environment where performance is really shaped, behind the scenes on the training ground.”

That theme runs through the partnership’s more bespoke touches. Christopher Ward has already produced three Everton-inspired timepieces that speak directly to the club’s history.

There is The Dixie Dean, a 60-piece limited edition honouring one of football’s most prolific goalscorers. There is The Goodison, with a caseback forged from the old 1930s turnstiles at Goodison Park, turning a slice of the stadium’s fabric into something supporters can wear. Then there is The Goodison 3.1, a watch that nods to the famous 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the 1985 European Cup-Winners’ Cup semi-final second leg, one of Goodison’s defining European nights.

These are not standard-issue sponsorship trinkets. They are deliberate attempts to tap into Everton’s heritage, to bind brand and club through shared stories rather than generic corporate messaging.

France underlined that connection, talking of “discipline, precision and constant refinement” as common ground between the training pitch and the watchmaker’s workshop, and describing the relationship as “built on timing and a relentless drive to improve”.

A commercial portfolio built for the new era

Inside the club, the deal is being framed as another marker of Everton’s growing commercial clout as they move towards life at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

A club statement pointed to the recent confirmation of CMC Markets as the new main partner on the front of Everton shirts and Stake as the official sleeve partner, presenting the Christopher Ward training kit agreement as part of a broader, strengthening portfolio.

Together, those partnerships are designed to capitalise on the “new stadium era” – the increased visibility, hospitality and branding opportunities that come with a modern waterfront arena – while also riding the momentum behind Everton Women at Goodison Park.

Everton’s challenge now is clear. They have secured the partners, dressed the stadium, and stitched the branding into every layer of the club, from Academy prospects to first-team stars. The commercial clock is ticking. The question is whether the football can keep time with the ambition.