Polymarket signs exclusive OneFootball deal, excludes Germany

Polymarket, a U.S.-regulated prediction-market platform, on May 28 agreed an exclusive distribution partnership with Berlin-based OneFootball to place Polymarket products across OneFootball’s match centers, editorial pages and personalized fan journeys. The integration gives Polymarket access to OneFootball’s 200 million monthly users and broader 645 million fan ecosystem, but the deal explicitly excludes Germany because Polymarket does not hold a German gaming license.

OneFootball’s announcement noted the integration will launch only in markets where local laws and platform rules permit. German law requires prediction-market operators to meet the same regulatory conditions as licensed gambling companies; Polymarket is regulated in the United States by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and does not meet those German requirements.

The partnership bars rival prediction platforms from the same product surface on OneFootball. Polymarket described the agreement as part of its broader sports distribution program ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.

Since January, Polymarket has expanded its sports presence with several football deals. The company integrated with DAZN in January, signed a LALIGA agreement limited to the United States and Canada on April 2, agreed a front-of-shirt sponsorship with Lazio on April 18 reported at more than $22 million, and secured an exclusive U.S. partnership with Serie A in May. Polymarket hired former Fanatics executive Ari Borod in February to lead sports business development.

Sports accounted for 39% of Polymarket’s total trading volume since July 2024, and the platform’s 2026 World Cup champion market has cleared more than $1.2 billion in cumulative volume since launching in July 2025.

Regulatory scrutiny in Europe has increased. Spain’s gambling regulator opened sanctioning proceedings involving Polymarket and a rival last week. Portuguese authorities issued an industry ultimatum in January, and Dutch regulators issued an enforcement order in February. Polymarket has said it tightened know‑your‑customer checks after exposure to U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions risks; a competitor has accused the firm of allowing users from sanctioned jurisdictions to trade on an offshore platform.

OneFootball positioned the partnership within its Web3 strategy following the launch of OneFootball Credits ($OFC). Separately, FIFA named ADI Predictstreet, a Gibraltar‑licensed forecasting platform, in April as the official prediction‑market partner for the World Cup, and DAZN plans to embed that product into its tournament livestreams.