BETSSON HELPS NORWAY’S AVALDSNESS IL PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN FOOTBALL

International betting operator Betsson has teamed up with Norwegian club Avaldsnes IL, which plays in the Toppserien, the country’s top tier of women’s football. 

Avaldsnes IL has risen to prominence in Europe with strong performances in the Champions League over recent years, and now Betsson will be providing financial support to the club in its efforts to qualify for the league every season. 

The sponsorship, which is the biggest in the club’s history, supports Betsson’s commitment to promote diversity and gender equality in sports. 

Ronni Hartvig, Chief Commercial Officer at Betsson Group said: “At Betsson, we believe in diversity as a key innovation factor in all areas, including sports. We are happy to witness more interest in women’s football and we want to be part of that drive. We also believe that our brand will get valuable worldwide exposure in future Champions League matches. This is a strategic agreement that we are confident will benefit both parties in the years to come.”

Stian Staveland Nygaard, General Manager of Avaldsnes Elite, added: “Running a top club aspiring to win the league and to play in the Champions League is expensive. In order to fulfil our ambitions, we depend on strong sponsors backing us, and we are very happy that we landed this agreement with Betsson. It is our biggest sponsorship deal of all time and provides stability in these challenging times.

“The sponsorship market has changed during this last year, and we have had to think differently. Having Betsson as a partner believing in our project allows us to invest, instead of having to lower our ambitions, which would have been the sad alternative.”

Betsson says the partnership is part of its international marketing strategy, and is expected to affect all markets in which it operates. As main sponsor, Betsson will gain exposure through kit advertising in matches played outside of Norway. 

For matches in Norway, the operator will instead by promoting Avaldsnes’ #EqualOpportunities campaign, which has been raising awareness of equality issues in football since 2017.

Regarding the equality campaign and the current issues with the Norwegian gambling market, Betsson’s Ronni Hartvig commented: “While we are waiting for Norway to introduce a licensing system that allows us to further invest on Norwegian soil, ‘#EqualOpportunities’ is a great message that we want to support. For us, ‘#EqualOpportunities’ also has another connotation as it’s in line with our work for Norway to follow most of Europe by offering us an equal opportunity by introducing a licensing system.”