Aston Villa, of English soccer’s top-tier Premier League, has announced a 10-year extension of its long-standing partnership with Levy UK + Ireland, the sports and entertainment arm of food services business Compass Group UK & Ireland.
The deal will see Levy UK + Ireland continue leading hospitality at the club’s Villa Park home stadium and Bodymoor Heath training ground, focusing on sustainability.
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The extension builds on the pair’s partnership, which started in 2017 when Levy Restaurants, part of Compass Group, won the contract to deliver matchday and non-matchday hospitality and entertainment at Villa Park when the club was playing in the second-tier EFL Championship.
Since then, the partnership has expanded to all aspects of hospitality, with Levy, through its partnership with street food company KERB, curating several local vendors to supply Villa Park, while also leading nutrition and catering at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground for all players in the men’s, women’s, and academy teams.
Last year, Levy led the redevelopment of Villa Park’s hospitality spaces, transforming 14 pre-existing hospitality areas and creating three new spaces, while upgrading technology to speed up service within five months.
Through its partnership with sustainable packaging company Notpla, Levy also introduced seaweed-based, biodegradable food packaging to use across Villa Park, while prioritizing sustainable and locally sourced food options.
The extension comes after the club announced the appointment of Adrian Filby as their new chief commercial officer in October as they look to build on their recent success on the pitch.
The club currently ranks ninth in the Premier League for annual sponsorship values as per GlobalData Sport’s annual The Business of the English Premier League 2024-25 report.
This includes a major uplift in annual fees from its kit supplier, now Adidas, which is worth $21.59 million, up from the $5.06 million value of its prior deal with Castore that it cut short.
The club’s front-of-shirt sponsor is betting brand Betano in a tie-up worth a club record £20 million ($24.6 million) per year, an indicator of the side’s recent growth as well as the financial pull of the Premier League.
Meanwhile, fellow Premier League club Southampton has announced Ferox Partners as its official recruitment partner.
The partnership will see Ferox lead Southampton’s drive in the staffing of key roles to aid its commercial and operational functions in the future.
Southampton has secured several commercial deals since returning to the Premier League, most recently announcing a new partnership with American pizza delivery chain Domino’s and renewing a deal with contact center firm 8×8.
The South Coast club also partnered with games room company Home Leisure Direct and brought in cryptocurrency casino Rollbit as their front-of-shirt sponsor, British cruise line P&O Cruises as sleeve sponsor, and Draper Tools as training kit partner.
The club is currently languishing at the bottom of the 20-team Premier League and will likely suffer another relegation back to the EFL Championship after one year.
Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest has named UK-based payments company Sokin as its official global business payments partner.
Sokin will manage FX and global payments for the East Midlands club while also supporting e-commerce payment acceptance through the team's online store.
As part of the deal, Sokin’s branding will be displayed throughout the City Ground.
