The upcoming Premier League season will see Leeds United return to the top flight after an absence of 16 years, which has arguably been too long for a club of Leeds’ size to be out of the spotlight. Under the ownership of Andrea Radrizzani, the club have become a force to be reckoned with, as they began consistently challenging for promotion and finally achieved it this season, winning the Championship for good measure as well.
Radrizzani has completely changed the mood of the club and its fanbase, and has made some canny appointments to ensure that Leeds were competitive once again. Angus Kinnear was made the CEO, and Victor Orta joined as Director of Football from Middlesbrough. Together, the duo have overseen a period of rapid improvement, with the catalyst being the appointment of the enigmatic and eccentric Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa as manager. Bielsa is revered as one of the best coaches in the world, with the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino being self-described disciples, and he immediately brought a lift to the club. His exacting standards and demands meant that Leeds were extremely competitive in his first season, when they led the league for most of the year but fell away dramatically towards the end to end up in a play-off spot, which they lost to Derby County. Nevertheless, Leeds came back with a vengeance, and did not drop below 5th place during last season, leading the league once again for the majority of the campaign, and finishing it off with the title win and promotion to the Premier League.
That promotion meant that Kinnear had to quickly renegotiate existing deals or find new partners, to reflect Leeds’ updated status and the improved commercial opportunities it would bring. The most important of these was to find a new shirt sponsor, and Leeds finally agreed a deal with global betting provider SBOTOP. While the length and value of the deal are undisclosed, it is understood to be the largest in the club’s history. Leeds’ deal marks yet another Premier League club which has a betting provider on its shirt, with these sites offering the best online gambling games and sports betting opportunities proving to be lucrative options for football clubs to partner with.
SBOTOP’s logo will also feature on Leeds’ training kits, while the club have also retained Clipper Logistics as the official training kit sponsor and logistics partner. This extends Clipper’s partnership with Leeds by two more years, which also has naming rights for the east stand at Elland Road. Leeds’ move to ensure that they get maximum commercial value from their promotion has also meant that they have landed a five-year deal with Adidas as their new kit supplier. This is another ‘record-breaking’ deal for The Whites, and their new kit was also finally launched last week after fans had been waiting for it for ages and calling for the club to release it.
Leeds’ new kit for the 2020/21 Premier League season is in white, as expected, with a blue trim on the sleeves and the famous Adidas three stripes on the shoulders, also in blue. The kit has been widely appreciated by Leeds fans, and the online club store went out of stock very soon after sales opened last week. There have also been pictures circulating of people lining up since 5 AM at the club store at Elland Road to buy the new kit, which just shows the passion and love that the city of Leeds has for its football club. Having waited for 16 years to see their team back in the Premier League, the fans will definitely lap up every minute of their triumphant return.