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Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda has signed on as the new main sponsor of FC Basel 1893, currently the top team in the Swiss Super League.
Starting next season, Bitpanda’s logo will feature prominently on the front of Basel’s first-team jerseys, as well as around their home ground, St. Jakob-Park.
The three-year agreement is Bitpanda’s first time as the main shirt sponsor for a football club, although the company previously partnered with several athletes and sports organizations. In announcing the deal, both sides spoke about shared values of “growth, innovation, and staying connected to their roots.”
Eric Demuth, Bitpanda’s co-founder and CEO, said he admired the passion and tradition behind a club like Basel. “It’s always special to work with people and institutions that honor their roots, live true values, and have built a strong community across generations,” he said.
Basel president David Degen also welcomed the new partnership: “We are proud and delighted to welcome Bitpanda to the FCB family,” he said. “Both companies stand for innovation and the ambition to break new ground.”
Beyond the usual logo placement, the partnership is set to focus on creating new digital experiences for fans. Plans include joint initiatives blending football culture with “modern investment tools, offering fans new ways to engage with the club.”
Bitpanda is already active in the sports world, having worked with athletes like Stanislas Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, and Dominic Thiem, and football giants such as Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, and Bayern Munich. The company also sponsors tennis events in Basel and Geneva.
FC Basel, who have claimed 20 national titles, are in a strong position this season, leading the Swiss Super League with just a handful of games remaining.
Earlier this month, Bitpanda added another regulatory win to its resume, becoming one of the few crypto companies to hold multiple licenses under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework.
On April 10, Bitpanda received a MiCA license from Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA), following earlier approvals from regulators in Germany and Malta. The Vienna-based firm framed the move as part of its push to become “the most regulated crypto platform in Europe,” according to a post on X.
MiCA, which came into full effect on December 30, 2024, is intended to unify crypto regulation across the EU by creating a single licensing framework for crypto asset service providers (CASPs). However, Bitpanda’s accumulation of three separate licenses raised eyebrows over how uniformly MiCA is being interpreted across EU member states.
