e City F.C have announced that the club’s stadium will be called the “bet365 Stadium” from the start of next season.

The deal between the sports-betting operator and the football club, both of whom are owned by the Coates family, is for six years, running through to the end of the 2021-22 season. Bet365 will remain the club’s shirt sponsor for at least another three seasons.

"The Premier League is constantly evolving and to ensure that Stoke City remain as competitive as possible it's important we explore as many ways as possible of generating revenue,” said Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes.

“As supporters are no doubt aware the Britannia brand no longer exists and it was important that we attracted a new stadium naming rights partner.

“The Premier League is watched around the world and bet365 are a truly global company. We are delighted that we have been able to reach an agreement with them over the stadium naming rights for an initial six year period, along with the extension of their shirt sponsorship agreement.

“bet365 are taking over from Britannia and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Britannia and the Co-operative Bank for their tremendous support over the past 19 years.”

“There's no doubt bet365 has benefitted enormously from the global exposure our shirt sponsorship agreement with the club has given us,” added John Coates, bet365 joint-chief executive and Stoke City vice-chairman.

“We have been looking to extend our portfolio of sports sponsorship and entering into a stadium naming rights agreement with Stoke City seemed a natural fit, especially as the city of Stoke-on-Trent is home to bet365.”