YouGov poll says 77% of soccer fans back ads ban

YouGov, a public opinion and data company, has gauged the ramifications of the recently agreed-on decision to suspend front-of-shirt gambling ads from the Premier League. The ban is slated to come into effect at the end of 2025/26 and will prohibit participants in the topflight league to promote the image and likeness of gambling firms on the front of players’ shirts.

The ban, however important, fails to address the promotion of such assets on player shirt sleeves and LED hoardings. To better understand how fans feel about the new ban, YouGov interviewed 1,000 soccer fans, with three-quarters of respondents stating that they were in support of the new ban –77% of the total.

Only 8% of all interviewees said that they opposed the decision and thought it was premature. An interesting highlight of the poll is that there is momentum to extend the ban to include hoardings. 56% of respondents have confirmed that they think the ban should apply to hoardings – the LED screens that run around the pitch. YouGov found that 25% of respondents opposed the measure.

Interestingly, 42% said that gambling firms should be completely removed from shirtsleeves, with 31% opposing the measure, suggesting that fans were more accepting of small advertisements tucked away at the sleeves of players’ shirts. Gambling firms as a whole held a bad reputation with soccer fans, though. 77% of respondents found gambling companies to be "inappropriate" sponsors for soccer teams.

Even cryptocurrencies enjoyed smaller opposition, with 60% of respondents arguing that cryptocurrency sponsors were inappropriate for soccer club sponsors. The numbers went even further down when respondents were asked about alcohol and fast food, with 52% and 50% of interviewees respectively opposing these industries as sponsors of soccer clubs.

According to soccer fans, mobile and telecom companies as well as banks and financialservices providers would make the most sense and be the most "appropriate" sponsors for soccer clubs with 85% and 70% of the interviewees approving of them.

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