Revealed: The obscure gambling firms with untraceable employees working with your football club – The Athletic

Follow Leyu, says Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta in a slick promotional video to mark a new commercial agreement between the European champions and Leyu Sports.

You would be forgiven for not having heard of the company, an obscure Asian gambling firm with little to no digital footprint outside of eye-catching sponsorship deals with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

And listening to Azpilicuetas instruction and following Leyu on the social media website LinkedIn only leads down a bizarre rabbit hole of fake profile pictures, deleted accounts and a seemingly non-existent branding agency.

It is a rabbit hole that raises serious questions for Chelsea who help beam Leyus branding around Stamford Bridge, seen across the world as well as many other European football clubs.

At a time when the spotlight is on footballs uneasy relationship with gambling, Premier League clubs including Aston Villa, Burnley, Everton and Southampton have signed deals with similarly obscure Asian betting companies.

These firms are often represented by untraceable individuals, which in some cases encourage users to expose themselves to cybersecurity risks in order to use their products.

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Revealed: The obscure gambling firms with untraceable employees working with your football club - The Athletic