Escalation in sponsorship dispute: VfB files lawsuit against Winamax
VfB Stuttgart is taking legal action against its former main and jersey sponsor, Winamax, over alleged outstanding payments from the French betting provider.
VfB Stuttgart is suing its former main and jersey sponsor, Winamax. Picture alliance / Pressefoto Rudel
The dispute between VfB Stuttgart and their previous main and jersey sponsor, Winamax, has reached a new level of escalation. Immediately before the DFB Cup final, the Swabian club removed the bookmaker's advertising from its iconic red chest band "for contractual reasons" and instead displayed the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) logo on its jersey at the Berlin Olympic Stadium. The reason: Winamax owed VfB contractually agreed payments amounting to approximately €2.5 million – according to information obtained by kicker.
Now the Stuttgart-based company is asserting these claims in court. As the club announced on Friday, it has filed a lawsuit against the French company with the Civil Chamber of the Stuttgart Regional Court. Winamax "ceased all payments from the advertising and sponsorship contract (...) in the spring of 2025 and failed to pay despite numerous reminders," the club stated. The lawsuit is "necessary and unavoidable" because all out-of-court efforts by the Stuttgart-based company have been unsuccessful.
Winamax sees "actions damaging to reputation and business"Regardless of these events, the contract between VfB Stuttgart and Winamax will end as scheduled on June 30. Landesbank Baden-Württemberg will definitively take over as the new main and jersey sponsor of the cup winners. This should be a relief for shareholder Porsche, among others, as they were extremely critical of the French sports betting provider's entry two years ago .
However, Winamax could also take legal action against the Swabians. After VfB Stuttgart removed the logo of its previous main sponsor from the jerseys used in the DFB Cup final, the French club responded with harsh accusations . The "publicly visible action during the DFB Cup final violates applicable contract law," Winamax stated, accusing the Stuttgart-based club, among other things, of "repeated actions damaging our company's reputation and business."
One point of criticism: VfB announced its new partnership with LBBW as early as summer 2025 in September 2024, despite Winamax's urgent request not to do so. This resulted in "we were only able to exercise our contractually granted rights to a limited extent," Winamax said in a statement before the cup final.
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