Everest Poker and Olympique Lyonnais Announce Partnership

Online poker room Everest Poker has announced a partnership with Olympique Lyonnais, one of France’s leading football teams. The announcement comes just weeks after Everest Poker obtained a permit to operate a licensed poker room in the French Market.

As part of the deal, Everest Poker will now have their logo displayed on the Olympique Lyonnais away shirts starting on August 7^th. The announcement follows a similar partnership between the team and BetClic, which will sponsor the home jersey. Both BetClic and Everest Poker are part of Mangas Gaming, which will be operating a variety of online gambling sites in France.

Lyon has been one of the most successful French football teams, dominating Ligue 1 over the last decade, including a string of seven consecutive French club championships between 2001 and 2008. In the 2009-2010 season, Lyon placed second in Ligue 1 behind Marseille, and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

According to Everest Poker, the partnership came about because of the shared mindset between Lyon and the site.

“By becoming a sponsor of Olympique Lyonnais, we want to associate the sport values of the poker community with those of Lyon's football team: playing the game responsibly and respecting their partners,” said Sandrine Mangia-Park, Director of Everest Poker France. “Pushed by our commitment to strengthen our link with players and to gain ground in our growing market, we are confident this partnership will be a true success thanks to the joy offered by our partners' performance."

The new sponsorships for Lyon come along with new jerseys, which have been designed by Adidas Lifestyle. The new home jersey features the classic OL colours of white, red and blue, but with the new BetClic logo. The bigger change will be in the away shirts, which are now crimson and gold, symbolizing Lyon’s historic links with the gold, silver and silk trades.