BYD is now the official automotive partner of Melbourne Victory. And for me on a personal level…this partnership is long overdue!
BYD has been confirmed as a Major Partner and exclusive Motor Vehicle Supplier of Melbourne Victory FC. The announcement, made on 12 June 2026, places BYD branding on both the A-League Men’s home and away jerseys for the next 12 months, alongside a presence across media, Academy, and community assets.
I need to disclose something upfront: I am not a neutral observer here. I have been a STAUNCH Melbourne Victory supporter since the club’s first season in 2005. I have followed them to Grand Finals, interstate, and overseas. In March 2016, I was in Osaka when Victory drew 1-1 with Gamba Osaka at the brand-new Suita City Football Stadium, one of the freshest grounds in Asia at the time. That trip still sits among the best football memories of my life. So when BYD, a brand I have covered since long before it became mainstream in Australia, formally aligns itself with Victory, you will understand why this one hits differently.
What the deal covers
BYD becomes the club’s exclusive vehicle supplier for the 2026-27 season. Branding will appear on both home and away kits, a visible placement that puts the BYD name in front of Victory’s significant supporter base across broadcast, streaming, and matchdays. The partnership also extends into Victory in Business, Academy, and community programs, giving BYD direct access to touchpoints well beyond a jersey logo.
A soft launch of the deal had already occurred at the Victory in Business Grand Final Luncheon last month at Palladium at Crown. More than 1,000 people connected to the club were in attendance. This was not a surprise announcement dropped on the public. It was introduced to Victory’s corporate community first.
Two organisations with parallel histories
Melbourne Victory was founded in October 2004 as one of eight clubs in the inaugural A-League. BYD was founded in February 1995 in Shenzhen, China. Both organisations have spent the intervening decades building from scratch into genuine forces in their respective industries. The press release frames the gap as “a decade apart,” and the spirit of that framing is accurate. These are not legacy organisations coasting on inherited prestige. Both built their market positions through performance.
Melbourne Victory Managing Director Caroline Carnegie pointed to shared values around growth and community. BYD Australia COO Stephen Collins, who I have spoken with extensively through my coverage of the brand, described it as a partnership built on a shared drive for performance and innovation. That language is consistent with how BYD positions itself globally, where it has already secured partnerships with Manchester City and FC Internazionale Milano as part of a deliberate push into international football.
Why this makes sense for BYD in Australia
BYD is not a niche brand chasing awareness. It is tracking toward top-three status in the Australian new car market in 2026, with close to 100,000 sales forecast for the year. The dealer network now sits well in excess of 100 sites nationally. The challenge at this scale is no longer awareness. It is belonging. A partnership with Melbourne Victory, one of the most supported football clubs in the country with a broad Melbourne demographic base, puts BYD alongside the kind of community identity that advertising alone cannot manufacture.
Victory’s membership and supporter base skews across a wide age range and includes a large number of exactly the type of Australian family buyer that the Sealion 7, Sealion 8, and Atto 2 are built for.
A word on the jersey placement
Sleeve and shirt branding on both home and away kits is a meaningful commercial commitment. Victory play at AAMI Park in front of capacity crowds and appear regularly on broadcast. Every media image of the squad in kit now includes the BYD name. For a brand that has spent the past four years building from zero to near-top-ten, that is exactly the kind of consistent mainstream visibility that compounds over a season.
Personal Note
I think it’s fair to say that have covered BYD more closely than most in Australia. I have also spent more than 20 years following Melbourne Victory across this country and around the world. For the past decade-plus, I have been at almost every home game at AAMI Park. Not most of them. Almost every one. I have been in the away bay at every major stadium on the east coast. I have travelled to Grand Finals. I stood with the away fans in Osaka in March 2016 at the brand-new Suita City Football Stadium and watched Victory draw 1-1 with Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League. I have done all of it because this club gets under your skin and stays there.
Seeing BYD’s name on a Victory jersey is going to feel strange in the best possible way. Two things I have been genuinely obsessed with for a long time, sitting in the same frame. The next time I am in the away bay somewhere, shirt on, phone in hand ready to document whatever chaos Victory serve up that week, the badge on that shirt will carry a name I have spent years making videos about. That is not something I expected to be able to say…but I am SO glad that I am now able to!
