Betclic to confirm Olympique Marseille tie for next season

BetClic is to confirm its sponsorship for next season of French football champions Olympique Marseille at a press conference this Wednesday, ahead of the company being legally allowed to display its logo in France next month with the part liberalisation of that country’s egaming market.

The shirt sponsorship of Marseille had been parked for Mangas Gaming-owned BetClic since the Louis Dreyfus group, the holding company for current French champions Marseille, became a major investor in Mangas earlier this year.

The deal complements BetClic’s recent sponsorship of Italian Serie A giants Juventus and no less than 13 Portuguese teams. BetClic and another top-flight French team, Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) in March argued that there was “no legal basis” to UEFA’s decision that month not to allow Lyon to wear BetClic’s logo for its recent Champions League tie with Bwin-sponsored Real Madrid, played in Spain. The pair argued that the French law did not apply to matches held under European competition rules and outside of France.

Other recent significant football sponsorships signed by egaming companies include Tombola with Premier League football team Sunderland, replacing Irish bookmaker BoyleSports, and Sportingbet extending its deal with fellow Premier League team Wolves until 2013.

The press conference will be held by Mangas Gaming chief executive Nicolas Beraud and the chief executive of Olympique Marseille, Jean-Claude Dassier.