Ten Premier League football clubs are linked to Israel’s genocide

Football sponsors are complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation and genocide of Palestinians

The Premier League is the most watched football league in the world – and the most lucrative – with an estimated revenue of over £10 billion annually.

But behind the beloved players and headline moments lurks a sinister trail of money that leads back to Israel’s genocide, that has killed over 73,000 Palestinians. 

Football sponsors such as Google and HSBC pay football clubs money in the form of sponsorship deals so they can be associated with the club’s brand and appear on players’ kits, football stadiums and our screens.

But where do these corporate sponsors make their money? In part through their financial ties to Israel’s genocide. The Premier League’s sponsor, Barclays, holds more than 2 billion in shares in arms companies supplying Israel. Google/Alphabet provide cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, which uses AI to identify Palestinians and locations for attack.  

These relationships are political choices: corporations choose to work with Israel while it commits genocide, and football clubs choose to receive sponsorship from corporations profiting from Israel’s genocide.

Why is this a problem?

This is sportswashing: from sponsor branding on shirts to advertising across stadiums, football clubs are promoting these complicit corporations to millions of fans. 

This exposure to fans and connection with popular clubs improves the reputation of corporate sponsors and distracts us from their links to Israel’s occupation and genocide.

This is not only unethical – the clubs risk being complicit in Israel’s war crimes through their sponsors.

The Premier League table of complicity 

At least ten Premier League clubs are complicit in Israel’s genocide through their sponsorship deals. Below, the clubs are ranked by how many complicit sponsors they have. Read the full list, and find out how the clubs are connected to Israel’s atrocities:

1. Liverpool

• Standard Chartered: UK-based bank, Standard Chartered, provided $15.4 billion (£11.3 billion) to 24 complicit businesses between January 2023 and August 2025, including Boeing and Caterpillar. Weaponry produced by Boeing has been directly linked to Israel’s bombing of the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah, the Gaza Strip.
• AXA: France-based bank AXA invested $9.6 billion (£7 billion) in 51 businesses facilitating Israel’s atrocities as of 31 August 2025, including arms company BAE systems, Boeing and Chevron.
• Google/Alphabet: Israel uses Alphabet cloud storage for military and population data, and Alphabet provides cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, which uses AI to identify Palestinians and locations for attack – which is facilitating Israel’s genocide. Israel reportedly uses Google photos’ facial recognition technology for its mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza. 
• Hotels.com/Expedia: tourism company Expedia offers rentals in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including through its subsidiary Hotels.com. This normalises Israel’s occupation and the forced displacement of Palestinians.
• Carlsberg: in Israel, Carlsberg beer is produced by Coca-Cola Israel, which has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.

=2. Arsenal

• Google/Alphabet: Israel uses Alphabet cloud storage for military and population data, and Alphabet provides cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, which uses AI to identify Palestinians and locations for attack – which is facilitating Israel’s genocide. Israel reportedly uses Google photos’ facial recognition technology for its mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza. 
• Facebook and WhatsApp: technology giant Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, has removed pro-Palestinian content from its platforms, and published paid ads promoting property sales in Israel’s illegal settlements. Israel has been using WhatsApp data to survey Palestinians. 
• Coca-Cola: in Israel, Coca-Cola’s producer has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.
• Hotels.com/Expedia: tourism company Expedia offers rentals in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including through its subsidiary Hotels.com. This normalises Israel’s occupation and forced displacement of Palestinians.

=2. Tottenham Hotspur

• British Petroleum (BP): oil giant BP is the joint largest supplier of crude oil to Israel. Much of the oil is for Israel’s military.
• Coca-Cola: in Israel, Coca-Cola’s producer has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE): IT company HPE supplies servers for Israel’s Population, Immigration and Borders Authority. Israel uses the data it stores on Palestinians to discriminate against them – blocking Palestinian’s movement, voting and access to services.
• HSBC: UK bank HSBC held more than $40 billion (£29 billion) in shares and bonds in 67 complicit companies including BP, Google/Alphabet and Israel’s biggest arms company, Elbit Systems, between January 2023 and August 2025.

=4. Manchester City

• Sony: Israel uses Sony CCTV cameras to surveil Palestinians in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem and at military checkpoints across Gaza, as part of its apartheid regime.
• Evelyn Partners: UK-based financial institution Evelyn Partners held $1.46 billion (£1 billion) in shares of 31 complicit companies including Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin and Palantir as of 31 August 2025.
• Cisco: US tech corporation Cisco provides servers, computing, cybersecurity tools and communication equipment to Israel’s military and police, which oppress Palestinians.

=4. Manchester United

• Coca-Cola: in Israel, Coca-Cola’s producer has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.
• Canon: camera company Canon owns diagnostic imaging company Canon Medical (Manchester United’s partner) and Israeli-based Briefcam, a video content analysis company which provides surveillance tools to the Israeli occupation authorities in East Jerusalem.
• Eurobank Direktna: the Serbian branch of Eurobank had $43 million (£31 million) invested in shares in 16 companies complicit in Israel’s atrocities as of 31 August 2025.

=6. Aston Villa

• Coca-Cola: In Israel, Coca-Cola’s producer has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.

=6. Chelsea

• Coca-Cola: In Israel, Coca-Cola’s producer has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.

=6. Crystal Palace

• Carlsberg: In Israel, Carlsberg beer is produced by Coca-Cola Israel, which has production facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory – land Israel has stolen from Palestinians.

=6. Everton

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE): IT company HPE supplies servers for Israel’s Population, Immigration and Borders Authority. Israel uses the data it stores on Palestinians to discriminate against them – blocking Palestinian’s movement, voting and access to services.

=6. Fulham

• Oracle: US-based tech company Oracle has a decades-long partnership with Israel. Oracle helped Israel’s military use IT systems as a means of warfare. In January 2024, several months into Israel’s genocide, Oracle donated 7 tons of  equipment worth more than half a million dollars (over £360,000) to Israeli army units operating in Gaza.

The other Premier League clubs

Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford, Coventry, Hull, Ipswich Town, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland don’t have confirmed complicit sponsors – but does that let them off scot free? Unfortunately not.

Brighton’s sponsor, American Express, is linked to Israel’s atrocities through its own  investors, Vanguard and BlackRock. These two corporations – two of the world’s largest investors – pump billions into complicit companies like Google, Elbit Systems and Palantir.

Through this tangled web of financial connections, corporations and clubs that may initially seem neutral can be linked to Israel’s atrocities.

The Premier League’s complicity in Israel’s genocide

The Premier League itself – and therefore all clubs by extension – risk complicity through their ties to Barclays, the Premier League’s main sponsor.

Barclays provided nearly $31 billion in loans and underwriting to 35 companies involved in Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid between January 2023 and August 2025. Israel continues to name Barclays as a primary dealer of Israel’s sovereign bonds, the “main source of finance for the Israeli State budget”, which have “played a critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza”.

How we stop Premier League complicity in Israel’s genocide

Football should not be used to normalise genocide and apartheid. Take action now:

• Email your team: tell Premier League clubs to stop taking sponsorship deals from corporations complicit in Israel’s genocide
• Sign the petition: call on corporations to stop enabling genocide
• Read our full briefing: find out more about the Premier League’s complicity in Israel’s atrocities
• Boycott and divestment: stop giving your money to corporations complicit in Israel’s genocide, like Barclays and Coca-Cola (find out more about boycott, divestment and sanctions here).
• Email your MP: encourage the UK government to ban the sale of goods from Israel’s illegal settlements

It’s time to kick genocide and apartheid out of football.