Tottenham Hotspur have had quite a few prominent shirt sponsors, but Holsten holds a special place in the hearts of many supporters. The German brewing company was a prominent brand in Germany and famous for its pale lager Holsten Blisener.
Found in 1979 in Hamburg, the Holsten Brewery company held an impressive reputation in Europe and sold really well. They were ultimately acquired by the Carlsberg Group in 2004 but were a pretty powerful force with a lot of money in the 1900s.
Remembering when Holsten acted as Tottenham’s shirt sponsors
Holsten’s association with Spurs began in 1983 when they struck a deal to be their shirt sponsors. It proved to be a pretty popular association and the German company continued to act as shirt sponsors for the Lilywhites until 1995.
After a short exile, Holsten would go on to sponsor Tottenham again from 1999 until 2002 – which proved to be the ultimate end for the two. But due to the sheer length of their association with the club, the German brand earned quite a lot of popularity among the Spurs supporters – who loved drinking the beer and having them in front of their shirts.
Tottenham fan creates concept kit with Holsten return
Recently, a Tottenham fan on Twitter created a new concept kit with Holsten as the shirt sponsor. This is a bit of a ‘What If?’ scenario, about what the club’s 2023/24 kit could look like if the German brewing company had their initials on the front of their shirts again.
This concept kit uses Richarlison as the model and is actually a really slick, clean design. The kit has the club’s traditional white and blue colours, being a white kit with unique blue patterns scattered all over the body. The colours of the badge, the Nike symbol and the Holsten name are all blue, something unthinkable with AIA.
A lot of fans actually seem to be attracted to this concept kit, mostly those who have memories of when Holsten used to sponsor their shirts back in the late 80s and 90s. For the veterans in the Tottenham fanbase, Holsten could even be considered as a bit of a lucky sponsor – because they were the shirt sponsors at the time of Spurs’ last FA Cup title win back in 1991.
Not just that, but Holsten was also the sponsor for Tottenham when they reached the 1987 FA Cup final. Something rather strange happened on that occasion, which is still considered a ‘fashion disaster’ for any prominent football side in FA Cup final history.
As Tottenham and Coventry City head into the Wembley Stadium pitch for the FA Cup final, fans were confused to see that only five Spurs players were wearing the correct jerseys. Six of the starting players wore jerseys with the main shirt sponsor’s name missing from the front.
This was because Hummel – Spurs’ shirt manufacturers at the time – had only supplied six full sets of their home kit. Four sets included the name of Holsten, but two were unbranded as they were ordered for Spurs’ youth team for an end-of-season tournament.
Could Holsten return as Spurs sponsor?
Ultimately, Spurs were left red-faced and many of their players ended up donning sponsor-less shirts – as they went on to lose to Coventry City. However, they would go on to win the 1991 FA Cup final against – wearing the Holsten kit – which is why many fans love this new concept kit.
For the time being, American company AIA remains Tottenham’s shirt sponsor and the deal is set to be intact until the end of the 2026/27 season. So, unless Spurs themselves terminate this deal – they are unlikely to bring back Holsten anytime soon as their shirt sponsors.
