Former Chelsea star Eidur Gudjohnsen has welcomed the Premier League’s decision to ban clubs from striking money-spinning shirt sponsorship deals with gambling companies.
Gudjohnsen, the brilliant Icelandic striker who helped the Blues win two Premier League titles and later lifted the Champions League with Barcelona, knows from his own bitter experience about how addictive betting can become.
Twenty years ago, when he was at the peak of his career, he estimated he lost around £6 million to the bookies - including a five-month period when he blew £400,000.
Gudjohnsen, now aged 44, has thrown his support behind the #TalkMoreThanFootball campaign, which is a collaboration between Chelsea, telecommunications company Three and the Samaritans geared towards encouraging people to talk about their mental health.
He believes the ban on clubs having betting company logos splashed across their shirts should have been implemented sooner. And he has called on clubs throughout football to use their shirts to promote more worthy causes.
Gudjohnsen said: “In my opinion, the ban should have come in much sooner. What is it that highlights a club? It’s the shirt sponsor.
“You have every football fan, every kid in the world, with their eyes on the shirts of our biggest clubs every single day. A shirt sponsor is a strong message. Advertising is so influential.
“Everybody is affected by it because we see it on TV, on billboards, on football shirts. It’s become a part of our everyday lives. I think the ban sends out a really big, positive message.”
No fewer than eight of the Premier League’s 20 clubs - Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham - have shirt sponsorship deals with betting firms.
The link-ups generate an estimated £60 million-a-year. That level of promotion will be outlawed by 2026 - although clubs will be able to use gambling company logos on their shirt sleeves like Aston Villa and Wolves currently do.
And pitch-side advertising will also still remain in place. Gudjohnsen added: “The game has to be careful about what it promotes.
“I remember when I played for Barcelona. They had never had a shirt sponsor in their entire history. Barca’s first sponsor was UNICEF - and that link-up generated huge awareness for a worthy cause.
“When a club that is so dominant in the game, like Barcelona, does something like that it can have a huge impact on the world that goes beyond football.”
Gudjohnsen was recovering from injury when he was bitten by the gambling bug. He would sometimes blow £2,000 on a single spin of an online roulette wheel.
But his attempt to replace the thrill of scoring goals during his time on the sidelines soon became an addiction. He fears football is a profession that has its own unique traps.
Gudjohnsen said: “Footballers feel this immense pressure to perform and be at the top level all of the time. It can have an effect on you when things are not going right.
“Sometimes you look for something different to get that adrenaline rush or whatever. For some people it can be gambling, others will turn to alcohol or something else that gives you a quick-fix.
“It’s only when you realise that there is no quick-fix out there that you start looking for help.”
Gudjohnsen’s decision to get behind the #TalkMoreThanFootball campaign was inspired by research that showed 55 percent of people talk about football while only 28 percent are prepared to speak about their mental wellbeing.
Gudjohnsen said: “Reading through the statistics about people struggling with their mental health and taking their own lives, you very quickly become aware that something has to be done.
“People find it easy to talk about football. It allows them to express their emotions. Yet it seems to be much harder for people to let their deeper feelings show.
“You don’t have to be depressed to ask for help. If you’re not feeling great then you can reach out for help - and the Samaritans are there for you 24/7.”
Chelsea legend Eiður Guðjohnsen speaks on behalf of Three UK and charity partner Samaritans to encourage football fans to open up about their mental health #TalkMoreThanFootball.
