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Sponsor a football club for about £90 (Jürgen Klopp already has)
A club in Cape Town sold the front of its shirt to the fans, one square at a time. The second shirt, the Legacy 1000, closes at 5pm SA time (4pm UK) on Monday 19 October.
By Hout Bay United FC
The most valuable space on a shirt
The front of a football shirt is the most valuable bit of space a club owns. It usually goes to a bank, a betting site or an airline for millions.
Hout Bay United play in the ABC Motsepe League, South Africa’s third tier, and their games are not on TV. Nobody was ever going to buy the front of their shirt. So the club stopped waiting for a sponsor and split the shirt into 500 squares instead, sold one at a time to the fans.
Your name, your logo, your five-a-side team’s badge, a doodle of your dog: whatever goes in your square gets printed on the actual kit. Then the club posts you the finished shirt.
Shirt one sold out
The first shirt, the Legacy 500, is a rainbow kit built around one line: The goal is love. Every square went, and the club found room for a few extra along the way. It is now in production.
Shirt two has Klopp on it
The Legacy 1000 is its own kit, navy and gold, with 500 new squares. Jürgen Klopp, a patron of the club, has claimed one. Same shirt, same size square, same price as everyone else.
Watch Adam tell it
Football creator Adam (@adam.the.cco) has followed the shirts from the start. His three reels tell the whole thing better than we can.
How to get on the shirt
- Pick your square: one square is R2,000 (about £90 or US$120). A pair is R4,000, and a block of four is R7,000 if you want room for something bigger.
- Add your artwork: a logo, a name, a badge, a doodle or a signature. Bold, simple shapes work best at that size.
- Get the shirt: when orders close the shirt is made, the club emails you a short form for your size, and your shirt is posted to you, wherever you are in the world.
- Nothing is paid until you have seen your square.
Where your square goes
Hout Bay United is a non-profit, so this is not a sponsorship deal that disappears into a marketing budget. The money from every square goes back into the club and its players:
- Nutrition: fuelling young athletes to compete at the highest level.
- Education: opportunity on and off the field, for life after the game.
- Safe housing: stability for the players who carry the community’s hopes.
- Local manufacture: a local manufacturer making the shirt, so the money stays home.
Last orders
Over 300 squares are already claimed. Orders close at 5pm SA time (4pm UK) on Monday 19 October, and then the shirt goes to print. If you have ever wanted to sponsor a football club, here is your chance.
Claim a square on the Legacy 1000 →
Peace & Love, Hout Bay United FC