Everton and Christopher Ward Unveil Official Training Kit Partnership

Everton have tightened their long-running bond with Christopher Ward, naming the British watchmaker as the club’s first-ever official training kit partner in a multi-year agreement that stretches deep into the club’s new stadium era.

This is not a fresh handshake. It is the latest turn of a partnership that has steadily moved from the periphery to the heart of the club’s commercial strategy.

From timing partner to training ground

Christopher Ward first arrived at Everton as the official global timing partner. From there, its logo moved onto the shirt sleeve, its name onto the list of founding partners of Hill Dickinson Stadium, and its support spread to Everton Women and Everton in the Community.

Now the brand steps inside the inner sanctum.

From the 2026/27 season, Christopher Ward branding will be embedded in the day-to-day life of the club’s players, appearing on the training wear of both the men’s and women’s first teams. The visibility will not stop at Finch Farm. The deal brings prominent presence across Everton’s social channels and matchday platforms, including LED boards, media backdrops and in-stadium branding at both Hill Dickinson Stadium and Goodison Park.

The pressure to grow revenue as Everton prepare to move into their new home has been intense. This agreement lands as a clear answer.

From 2027/28, the partnership goes even deeper. Christopher Ward will feature on the training kit of the Under-21s, Under-18s and Academy sides, while remaining on the men’s and women’s first-team gear. Supporters will see the brand on all first-team replica training items on sale, extending the link from the dressing room to the fanbase.

53° North and a watchmaker inside a stadium

Last season, Everton and Christopher Ward opened 53° North at Hill Dickinson Stadium – billed as the world’s first premium watch showroom inside a sporting venue. It is a symbol of how this relationship has been built: not just on logo placements, but on physical spaces and shared projects that tie the club’s identity to the craft of mechanical watchmaking.

The club insists the showroom has brought supporters closer to the precision and design that underpin the brand. For Everton, it also underlines a strategy: use the new stadium to unlock unconventional commercial opportunities.

Andrew Middleton, Everton’s president of business operations, framed the latest step as a natural escalation.

“Christopher Ward has been a bold, innovative and committed partner to Everton, and we are delighted to see that relationship continue to grow through this landmark agreement,” he said.

“Becoming our first-ever official training kit partner is a significant step. It not only reflects the strength of the partnership, but places Christopher Ward directly within the environment where our teams prepare, develop and strive for excellence every day, while also providing valuable global exposure through training and matchday activity.”

Middleton pointed to the watchmaker’s role as a founding partner of Hill Dickinson Stadium, its backing of 53° North, and its support for Everton Women and Everton in the Community as evidence that the brand understands the club’s culture and ambitions.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with Mike France and the Christopher Ward team as we build on this partnership and explore new opportunities together during this exciting next chapter for the club,” he added.

Heritage on the wrist

The collaboration has already produced three Everton-inspired timepieces, each aimed squarely at the club’s sense of history.

The Dixie Dean is a 60-piece limited edition that pays tribute to one of football’s most prolific goalscorers. The Goodison carries a caseback made from the 1930s turnstiles at Goodison Park, turning a piece of the old ground into something supporters can wear. The Goodison 3.1 commemorates the famous 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the 1985 European Cup-Winners’ Cup semi-final second leg, one of the defining nights in Everton’s European story.

For Christopher Ward, these are not just collector’s items. They are a bridge between watchmaking precision and football heritage.

Mike France, CEO and co-founder of Christopher Ward, drew that line clearly.

“We believe that excellence is built on the smallest details – whether in the precision of a mechanical watch or the marginal gains that define elite football,” he said.

“Becoming Everton’s first-ever training kit partner feels like a natural next step in our journey together. It builds on our presence both on and off matchday by embedding us even further into the club – in the daily environment where performance is really shaped, behind the scenes on the training ground.

“That’s something we recognise deeply in watchmaking: the discipline, precision and constant refinement that sits beneath the surface. There’s a genuine alignment between our worlds, built on timing and a relentless drive to improve.”

Commercial portfolio gathers pace

The training kit deal drops into a broader commercial upswing at Everton. A club statement highlighted the agreement as another marker of growth, following the announcement of CMC Markets as the new main partner on the front of Everton shirts and Stake as the official sleeve partner.

Together, these partnerships signal a club trying to turn a new stadium into a new financial reality. The move to Hill Dickinson Stadium, the continued presence of Everton Women at Goodison Park and the layering of high-profile sponsors all point in the same direction: a more powerful partnership proposition and a more aggressive commercial outlook.

For Everton, the question now is not whether brands will come. It is how far this new era – with a watchmaker’s name stitched into the fabric of training ground life – can help fuel the footballing ambitions that must follow.