Dogecoin Sponsors Italian Soccer Club in Global Push

House of Doge, the commercial arm of the Dogecoin Foundation, and its publicly traded merger partner Brag House have taken a controlling stake in Italian soccer club U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918. The acquisition represents a calculated move to leverage the global appeal of soccer—the world’s most popular sport—to expand Dogecoin’s brand recognition. According to House of Doge CEO Marco Margiotta, this initiative is designed to transform visibility into familiarity and ultimately utility for the cryptocurrency. “Dogecoin on the front of a historic club’s kit keeps the brand in every match photo and broadcast,” Margiotta stated, emphasizing the long-term goal of worldwide acceptance for DOGE.

The branding integration will be comprehensive, featuring Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu logo across the chest of the club’s primary match jersey, with additional placement on the sleeves and shorts of its secondary jersey. Beyond apparel, the sponsorship includes visibility on the stadium’s LED boards during matches, media backdrops in the press room, and promotional videos. The deal covers the remainder of the 2025-2026 soccer season and the entire following season, though the full jersey reveal is still pending final creative approval.

Brag House CEO Lavell Juan Malloy II framed the sponsorship as more than a traditional marketing arrangement, describing it as symbolic of a movement where community, technology, and real-world ownership intersect. “Imagine the day when major college programs, across divisions, take the field with Dogecoin on their jerseys,” Malloy said, hinting at potential future expansions of their crypto-sports strategy. This vision aligns with Brag House’s existing focus on college-focused online gaming, suggesting a cohesive approach to targeting younger, digitally-native audiences through sports and entertainment channels.

The Italian club sponsorship follows House of Doge’s previous marketing efforts, including placing the Dogecoin logo on an Indy500 car in May and partnering with publicly traded cleaning product firm CleanCore to create an “official” Dogecoin treasury. These initiatives collectively represent a multi-pronged strategy to embed Dogecoin into mainstream consumer consciousness through high-visibility partnerships across different sectors.

The sponsorship announcement comes amid significant corporate developments between the two companies. Earlier this month, House of Doge announced it would be conducting a reverse takeover of publicly traded Brag House Holdings (ticker: TBH), effectively merging the Dogecoin Foundation’s commercial operations with a publicly listed entity. This reverse merger provides House of Doge with access to public markets and potentially greater resources for future expansion initiatives.

Despite these ambitious moves, both DOGE and TBH have faced recent market headwinds. DOGE has jumped 9% year-to-date but remains down 75% from its 2021 all-time high of $0.73. At the time of the announcement, the cryptocurrency was trading at $0.18, having dropped approximately 7.4% in the preceding 24 hours. Meanwhile, TBH stock was down about 5% on the day of the announcement and 30% over the previous month, indicating investor skepticism or broader market pressures affecting both the cryptocurrency and the merging companies.

The partnership with U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 represents a significant test of whether high-profile sports sponsorships can translate into sustained value creation for cryptocurrency projects. As meme coins face increasing competition and regulatory scrutiny, initiatives like this Italian soccer sponsorship attempt to build legitimate brand equity and practical utility beyond speculative trading. The success or failure of this approach could influence how other cryptocurrency projects approach mainstream marketing and adoption strategies in the future.