Burnley have terminated their shirt sponsorship agreement with Finotive One after just 42 days, leaving the Championship club scrambling for a replacement on the eve of their 2026-27 season opener against West Ham United.

The club confirmed on Friday morning that the deal had been scrapped "to protect the club's interests, and those of our supporters," though no detailed explanation was provided. The fallout has been significant: shirts already sold to fans featuring the Finotive One branding have been pulled from the club's website, and full refunds or exchanges are being offered to supporters who purchased the 2026-27 home and away kits.

A promotional video made obsolete

Only two weeks before the axe fell, Burnley had unveiled their new cream away shirt with considerable fanfare through a star-studded promotional video. The clip featured former NFL player and minority club investor JJ Watt, ex-England cricketer James Anderson, and Hollywood icon Arnold Schwarzenegger. That video is now redundant, and the shirts will not be on sale at the club shop ahead of Sunday's home fixture against West Ham United.

Observant fans had already sensed trouble brewing on Thursday, when a Sky Sports promotional graphic showed Kyle Walker in a Burnley shirt — without any sponsor logo visible. Shortly after, supporters noticed that all references to the Finotive One partnership had been quietly removed from Burnley's official website.

Who is Finotive One?

Finotive One is a Cyprus-registered firm that describes itself as an "all-in-one ecosystem" built for traders. Little publicly available information existed about how it operated or who its customers were — a red flag that, in hindsight, may explain the rapid dissolution of the agreement.

Vertu Motors, a UK-wide car dealership that has maintained a sponsorship arrangement with Burnley since 2022, has stepped in as replacement. Given the circumstances, Burnley's bargaining position would have been considerably weakened, making the terms of any new deal likely less favourable than those originally secured with Finotive One.

A troubled history with shirt sponsors

This is not the first time Burnley have faced difficulties in this area. Under the ownership of AIK Capital — who acquired the club in December 2020 — the Lancashire club became heavily reliant on gambling-related sponsors. LoveBet, an Asian betting brand, signed a three-year deal but was replaced after two years following financial difficulties. SpreadEx, a fixed odds and spread betting company, took its place, before Classic Football Shirts offered a single-season break from gambling associations in 2022-23.

After that brief interlude, Philippines-based gambling company W88 took over, followed in 2024 by 96.com, a betting website operated by TGP Europe. That deal drew the scrutiny of the Gambling Commission, which warned Burnley and three other clubs over their links to TGP Europe — a company that had surrendered its British gambling licence. An investigation found TGP Europe had failed to "carry out sufficient checks on business partners" and had breached anti-money laundering rules.

With Finotive One now gone after just six weeks, Burnley must hope Vertu Motors provides the stability that has eluded their commercial department for years.