In Brazil, the connection between football shirts and betting companies is facing a direct intervention from Brasília. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a decree aimed at stopping consumers from spending money with betting agencies, while also preventing clubs from using such companies as sponsors.
The news from the club game
The measure reaches deep into Brazil’s top-flight football economy. Fifteen of the 20 clubs in the country’s leading division currently have a betting company as their main shirt sponsor.
That widespread dependence means the decree could remove the principal commercial partner from most of the league’s teams, placing a major source of sponsorship income under pressure.
Lula spoke at an event focused on the prohibition of betting as his government moved to restrict the sector’s role both among consumers and within Brazilian football.
