Funding Circle Renews 'For the Love of Rugby' Partnership to Back UK Small Businesses

Funding Circle has extended its partnership with the "For The Love of Rugby" podcast for the 2026/27 PREM Rugby season. For fintech professionals, this move highlights the increasing importance of niche, community-driven marketing channels in reaching small business owners, bridging the gap between elite sports sponsorship and direct SME engagement through entrepreneurial storytelling.

What was announced

Funding Circle’s extension of its partnership with the For The Love of Rugby (FTLOR) podcast is set to cover the entirety of the upcoming 2026/27 PREM Rugby season. This renewal marks a deepening of the relationship as Funding Circle enters its fifth consecutive season as the official business finance partner of PREM Rugby. The collaboration is designed to bridge the gap between elite professional sports and the day-to-day realities of running a small business, leveraging the podcast’s reach to connect with entrepreneurs across the UK.

The season-long engagement will feature Funding Circle activations integrated into FTLOR’s coverage of the league. These sponsored episodes are expected to provide a platform for first-hand storytelling, featuring insights from the podcast’s hosts alongside high-profile players such as Finn Russell, George Ford, and Jac Morgan. Beyond standard match analysis, the partnership focuses on the shared values of resilience and support found in both rugby and business. FTLOR itself is operated as a small media business by its hosts, Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, which Funding Circle identifies as a natural alignment for its "business finance that backs you" proposition. The platform’s impact on the broader economy remains significant; in 2025, lending facilitated through Funding Circle supported 117,000 jobs and contributed an estimated £7.9 billion to the UK’s Gross Domestic Product.

"We’re really pleased to renew our partnership with For the Love of Rugby. At Funding Circle, we want to reach small businesses where they spend their time, and this sports podcast is a key space for connecting with SMEs. Ben Youngs and Dan Cole aren’t just podcast hosts, they are running a small business themselves. Backing them as business owners directly aligns with our mission and our ‘business finance that backs you’ proposition, allowing us to support UK SMEs with the finance they need to succeed."

Jo Casley, Brand Director at Funding Circle.

The companies involved

Funding Circle is the UK’s leading finance platform dedicated specifically to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Since its inception, the platform has sought to bypass the traditional complexities of commercial lending by using technology to connect businesses with the capital they need to grow. By focusing on the SME sector, Funding Circle has positioned itself as a critical alternative to high-street banks, which have historically underserved smaller firms. The company’s presence in the market is defined by its ability to provide rapid, data-driven credit assessments, a necessity for businesses navigating the volatile UK economic landscape.

PREM Rugby represents the top flight of the English rugby union league system, serving as a major cultural and commercial entity in British sport. The partnership between a sports league and a fintech platform underscores a growing trend of financial services firms seeking high-visibility associations with professional athletics. For The Love of Rugby, the media entity at the heart of this announcement, is a podcast hosted by Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, both of whom are former England rugby union players. Their transition from the pitch to managing their own media business provides the entrepreneurial context that Funding Circle aims to champion through its lending services.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has documented Funding Circle’s consistent efforts to integrate itself into the UK’s business and sporting fabric. In July 2026, the publication reported that Funding Circle extended its PREM Rugby partnership for a fifth season, reinforcing its long-term commitment to the sport. The platform’s technical evolution has also been a point of focus, notably with the news that Lovey integrated Funding Circle’s API in April 2026 to streamline customer workflows.

This activity comes at a time of significant movement within the UK lending sector. FF News recently highlighted how Lenvi expanded its standby servicing team by 50% to keep pace with rising demand for credit. Furthermore, the regulatory environment continues to shift, as seen when Innovate Finance urged UK action on Open Finance and AI to ensure the nation maintains its competitive edge in the global fintech market.

What this means

This announcement signals a shift in how fintech brands approach customer acquisition. As the cost of digital performance marketing rises, platforms are increasingly turning to "affinity marketing" through personality-led media like podcasts. By aligning with former athletes who are now business owners, Funding Circle is attempting to solve the trust deficit that often plagues the alternative lending sector. The move puts pressure on traditional commercial banks to humanize their brands beyond corporate social responsibility initiatives. It raises a broader question for the industry: can high-production, niche content replace traditional broad-reach advertising as the primary driver for SME lead generation? The success of this partnership suggests that for small business owners, the messenger is becoming as important as the financial product itself.