Saints provide complimentary shirts after Chinese sponsor fiasco

Southampton Football Club this week announced it would provide free shirts to fans who had already purchased this season’s club strip displaying a defunct sponsor. The move follows the recent appointment of Sportsbet.io as new Main Club Partner.

Supporters who have already purchased a 2020/21 shirt with LD Sports on the front will, according to to the club, be able to claim a complimentary replacement featuring the news sponsor and will also be able to keep the original shirt “as a gesture of the club’s gratitude for their patience”. 

Updated home, away, third, and goalkeeper shirts featuring the Sportsbet.io logo are now also available for pre-order online and in-store, with a promise that these new shirts will be delivered to fans in time for Christmas.

Head of marketing for Sportsbet.io, Justin Le Brocque, said: “We’re absolutely excited about our partnership with one of the Premier League’s most ambitious teams and are very happy to help provide the best possible solution for those Saints fans who wish to show their support to the team with updated replica shirts. This resonates perfectly with our motto of being fun, fast and fair and sharing this journey with Southampton FC is a privilege we think very highly of.”

In order to get the shirts re-made as quickly as possible, the club’s Technical Partner Under Armour have granted the club permission to replicate the shirts via a third-party provider. As a result, the shirts will be an exact replica of the playing shirts worn by Ralph Hasenhüttl’s first team, but without Under Armour branding.