Nottingham Forest secure £14m boost as controversial deal agreed

By Sean Fisher

14th Sep, 2023 | 1:53pm

Revealed: Nottingham Forest secure £14m boost as controversial deal agreed

Nottingham Forest are set to earn £14million from their front-of-shirt deal with Kaiyun Sports, sources have told Football Insider.

The Premier League side announced on 30 August that they have struck a two-year deal with the Asian digital sports platform.

Football Insider understands that Forest lowered their initial asking price of £10million a season down to £7million to get the deal across the line.

Steve Cooper’s side played the majority of the 2022/23 campaign without a front-of-shirt sponsor and had to do the same at the start of the current season.

However, Kaiyun Sports made their first appearance on the front of Forest’s shirts in their second-round Carabao Cup match against Burnley.

Forest’s agreement has been met with controversy and they have faced criticism for failing to mention that Kaiyun Sports’ primary business is gambling.

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Premier League clubs voted in April to ban front-of-shirt gambling sponsors by the end of the 2025/26 season.

Kaiyun Sports currently don’t have a functional website in the UK and often advertises their company in Chinese despite gambling firms being illegal there.

Despite the controversy around the deal, it has been approved by the Premier League.

The value of Forest’s new front-of-shirt deal ranks them ninth in the Premier League behind Everton and West Ham’s £10million deals with Stake and Betway respectively.

However, they are likely to tumble further down the list if Chelsea’s £40million per season deal with Infinite Athlete is approved.

In other news, Major update on Sheffield United swoop for former Nottingham Forest star Andre Ayew