“Covering where Fintechs and Sport collide, at the Fintech Sports Club we keep readers up to date with the latest in partnerships, sponsorships and the deepening relationship between the world's favourite sports and the game-changing innovation of financial technology.”

As with the biggest domestic leagues, banks and fintechs are an ever-growing presence in international football. JP Morgan Chase for the Home Nations and ING for the Benelux are just two of many.

Gone are the days of physical retailers fighting for their share of local consumers’ attention - you’re far more likely to see Bank of America branding than that of a 90s throwback such as a beer or automotive manufacturer.

There are a few reasons for this, particularly driven by the digital and financial revolution that gripped both football and the world generally in the 2000s and 2010s.

The amount of money in the game and the number of people watching has risen from the millions to the billions.

This points to why official payments partners for national teams have gone from extremely rare to nearly ubiquitous.

In some ways, the objectives of banks and fintechs in international football aren’t entirely removed from those of beers and automotive manufacturers.

Visibility, brand trust and market share are still crucial - it’s what they provide to the national teams in return that marks the clear difference.

It’s the payments infrastructure, philanthropic collaboration and contribution to grassroots initiatives that are part of a resource exchange going far deeper than just money for ad space.

With the World Cup being so lucrative and having a colossal financial footprint, it’s no surprise that banks and fintechs have looked to partner up with national football associations.

Especially since Visa’s longstanding relationship with FIFA means a tournament-wide partnership is a far flung prospect.

Partners can be sure that every 2 years, they will gain a significant return on their investment, and the more successful the team is on the pitch, the better.

For Chase and England, for example, the brand is featured prominently on training gear, while also occupying primetime slots during ITV’s England coverage - placing them front and centre of relevant markets without the costs of tournament-wide scale.

While these are partnership trends reflective of the biggest domestic leagues, such as the Premier League, there is one stark difference - the ratio of banks to fintechs.

There is a far greater proportion of fintechs in the Premier League sponsorship space compared to the World Cup space - with international teams often sponsored by big, historic national banks.

Why is this, and will this change going forward?

Late June saw Chelsea announcing a new multi-year partnership with Legal AI firm Legora, with the brand set to appear on the training kits for the men’s, women’s and academy teams.

Reading past the fluff, it’s worth a welcome £3.5m per-year to a team which has struggled to obtain a reliable front-of-shirt sponsor since being taken over by Blue Co from Roman Abramovich.

But most interestingly, it adds another dimension to the battle for supremacy in the legal AI space.

Fulham’s existing partnership with Legora competitor Harvey AI means West London is now a battleground for two of the biggest legtechs, as both try to corner a highly specialised and competitive market.

It’s far from the opening salvo in this battle - both firms have already invested in the head-turning power of celebrity muscle.

Legora hired an Oscar-winning director to lead their promotional material starring the aptly-named Jude Law, and Harvey enlisted an A-list fictional lawyer for their marketing campaigns, making “Suits” actor Gabriel Macht their first brand ambassador.

We look forward to seeing how London-based competitor and Fintech Football Championship outfit Lawhive respond.

Division 3 teams have got the Fintech Football Championships talking this season as each game returns bucketloads of goals - with no game seeing less than 10 and most seeing more than 20 hit the back of the net.

Seccl were the latest to deliver a red-hot finishing masterclass as they dismantled newcomers Parloa 18-4 last week, handing their more-than-capable opponents a stinging defeat.

With 3 wins from 3, there’s no doubt that Seccl will be a team to beat should anyone want to stop them from a march towards Division 2 promotion.

Even at this early stage, their fixture vs YouLend towards the latter end of the season is shaping up to be a title decider, with YouLend the only other team boasting a 100% record.

For Parloa, it would have been a bruising experience which saw their goal difference take a hefty knock - but a valuable lesson for a team in their first season of Fintech Football.

Having been in their position before, other teams will know that maintaining team spirit and confidence will stand them in good stead to recover strongly.