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In times of crisis, sponsors cool off and don't rush to the doors of football clubs in any of the leagues. The large foreign football clubs don't have any trouble finding sponsors who will have a rapid return on their investment such as the great Manchester United, which quickly replaced the insurer AIG on its jerseys. But it's not the case for the French football clubs notably the six times champion of France, L'Olympique Lyonnais (OL). In fact the Accor group didn't renew its contract with OL because of the economic crisis and the club is planning on studying the different offers before deciding. However it could be that the french football clubs have in hand valuable sponsors who really want to figure on the jerseys of players of clubs high on the league table. These sponsors, considered as a messiah in these difficult times, are online gaming sites. In fact, sport betting, online or poker sites will have the possibility in 2010 to use football players as advertisements on the pitch. To-day Bwin is sponsoring AC Milan, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid and could appear on the back of football players from Olympique Lyonnais or other league 1 clubs.

Paris Saint-Germain has already announced a partnership with the online gaming site Unibet, Olympique Marseille is near agreement with Betclic and for Olympique Lyonnais or Bordeaux it's a blackout. These sport betting sites have exceptional financial resources and can contribute important financial support to the football clubs. The brand which would like to be on the jerseys of the Olympique Lyonnais players will have to pay out 10 million euros a year. Listed on the stock exchange, OL has strict financial demands but like every  high calibre internationally famous club, sponsorship is expensive.  Jean- Michel Aulas' club is ready to imitate the champion of the League of Champions, Barcelona FC, to promote a charitable association (Barca has the UNICEF logo on its jerseys, editors note) until France authorises online gaming sites.

Gaming sites on the internet are an important financial manna in team sponsoring no matter what the sport. The media impact can make billions of euros for the online gaming sites notably at international meetings as was the case during the UEFA cup.

To-day online gaming is forbidden in France and the market will open up in 2010. The Bwin affair ( see the article “Bwin”) brought reflexion on the state monolopy with the Francaise des Jeux and the PMU to the fore. There is a strong chance that the major meetings of clubs at the top of the league table could be transformed into a confontration of major online poker site brands. When will we have a Bwin-Unibet match? To be continued...

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