Leicester’s 15-year-old Jeremy Monga forced to make his debut in a shirt without a sponsor

Imago

Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga, who became the second youngest player in Premier League history on 7 April, was forced to wear a shirt without a sponsor due to gambling rules. 

BC.GAME, an online cryptocurrency gaming platform, sponsors Leicester’s home kit for the 2024/25 season. However, the Gambling Act 2005 prohibits players aged 18 or under from wearing kits displaying gambling sponsors. 

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As such, Monga was forced to wear a shirt showing just the club’s badge and the Adidas logo, who are the club’s official kit supplier. 

The winger came on as a substitute in the 74th minute for his debut aged 15 years and 271 days old, only Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri was younger when he made his Premier League debut aged 15 years and 181 days old. 

Unfortunately for Monga and his Leicester teammates, his debut came in a 3-0 defeat to Champions League chasing Newcastle United. 

The result means the club have lost eight Premier League games in a row without scoring a single goal in any of those matches. They sit 19th in the table and are 15 points from safety with just seven matches remaining. Deep in the midst of a relegation battle that they'll need a 2014-type fairytale ending to recover from.

However, Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke positively about Monga after the match. “You could see glimpses of his great qualities,” stated the former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker. 

“He’s a great winger and has plenty of speed. He’s a fantastic talent, a great boy. He deserved these minutes and hopefully, more to come.” 

Monga isn’t the first sportsperson to have to be treated differently due to sports gambling laws; those looking to advertise their products with darts sensation Luke Littler face similar issues. 

Paddy Power, the headline sponsor of the PDC World Darts Championship, are unable to use Littler in their advertising because he only turned 18-years-old on 21 January this year. 

Littler was the runner-up in last year’s tournament before he claimed the World Darts title this year, three-weeks before his 18th birthday.  

The Committee of Advertising Practice Code (CAP) states that anyone ‘who is, or seems to be, under the age of 25’ should not be featured gambling or playing a significant role in advertising a gambling product.

The code also states that ads must not include a person who has a strong appeal to those aged 18 or under. 

Due to Leicester’s struggles and Monga’s obvious talent, it’s likely he’ll feature again for the Foxes before the end of the season. If he does, he’ll once again have to wear a different shirt to his older teammates.