Photo: Alan Spink

The renewed title sponsorship will see AJ Bell have a strong presence, including on and off court branding, at all 21 fixtures in the 2016/17 season played out between October and February 2017.

AJ Bell also enjoy naming rights to the league’s exciting ‘PowerPlay’ double points rally – an in-play feature exclusive to the AJ Bell NBL that has caught the imagination of supporters.

The AJ Bell NBL features Britain’s best players, top European talent and stars from Asia competing across seven franchise teams – Loughborough Lightning, Surrey Smashers, Team Derby, University of Nottingham Badminton, Suffolk Saxons, Bristol Jets and reigning champions, Birmingham Lions.

Since its launch in October 2014, the AJ Bell NBL has drawn a new audience into the Olympic sport. Over 1.1 million UK households have tuned in to watch the innovative ‘Power-9’ match-play format which includes time-outs, tie-breaks and a shortened scoring format with fixtures played over two hours.

Boosted by a bronze medal at Rio 2016 – Team GB’s first Olympic badminton medal in 12 years – English badminton is enjoying a significant rise in popularity and profile and AJ Bell have renewed their support to the sport as it continues to inspire a new generation of fans.

Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis, English badminton’s medal heroes in Rio, will play for Surrey Smashers and Team Derby respectively in Season 3 of the AJ Bell NBL.

AJ Bell’s sponsorship extension comes on the eve of the 2016/17 season and marks the start of an exciting new phase for the league’s development.  Two new teams – Suffolk Saxons and Bristol Jets – have been added to the league with a new domestic TV broadcaster soon to be announced.

The new AJ Bell National Badminton League season gets under way on Monday 17 October with fixtures in Guildford (Surrey Smashers v Loughborough Lightning) and Birmingham (Birmingham Lions v Suffolk Saxons).

Adrian Christy, CEO of Badminton England, said: “After the brilliant bronze medal won by Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis in Rio, the buzz around English badminton is at a 10-year high and having AJ Bell on board as proud title partners of the NBL only reinforces this.

“They have a fantastic pedigree in sponsoring high profile sporting events and I am delighted they continue to see the AJ Bell NBL as a wise investment.  Our plans to grow the league remain at the forefront of our thinking and I am pleased that AJ Bell will be beside us on that journey.”

AJ Bell has a deep-reaching history of event, team and athlete sponsorship including the AJ Bell London Triathlon and AJ Bell British Squash Grand Prix.

 Billy Mackay, Marketing Director of AJ Bell, says: “At AJ Bell we want more people to enjoy secure, healthy, long and rewarding lives. Through all of our sponsorship activity we aim to foster a mind-set where ‘looking after yourself’ means investing in both your health and your future wealth.

“Badminton is a great fit with that mantra. It is an exciting time for the NBL and English badminton as a whole and we are delighted we are able to continue to support the league.”

Since AJ Bell was founded in 1995 it has quickly grown to become one of the UK’s largest providers of online investment platforms and stockbroker services, offering low-cost SIPPs, ISAs, funds and shares to their 131,100 clients with assets under administration exceeding £28 billion.

You can find out more about the AJ Bell NBL here.

Report courtesy of Badminton England

The opening round of matches will see reigning champions Birmingham Lions start their title defence at home to new franchise team, Suffolk Saxons.

Match-Week 1 also sees Surrey Smashers welcome Loughborough Lightning, last season’s runners up, to Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.

The other team taking its first step in the AJ Bell NBL in the new season is the Bristol Jets, who will be making their debut away to Team Derby on Match-Week 2 (7-13 November).

Adrian Christy, Badminton England Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that the new fixtures have been confirmed for what will be the third season of the AJ Bell NBL and the team franchises can start to prepare for the season ahead.

“It’s extremely exciting that will we see the introduction of two new teams to the league – the Bristol Jets and Suffolk Saxons – and we look forward to taking more fast-paced badminton to new audiences across the country.”

Olympic silver medallist and AJ Bell NBL Ambassador Nathan Robertson said: “It’s hard to believe this will be the third season of the NBL but it’s great that the new fixtures have been confirmed and that the league is expanding to seven teams.

“With the reduced format and new rules of the AJ Bell NBL we’ve already witnessed lots of epic matches and comebacks, but as all the teams strengthen their squads I think this season promises to the best yet.”

Andrew Billingham, Bristol Sport CEO, said: “We are hugely excited about the start of the season. Our squad is taking shape nicely with ex England International Chris Coles and the recent announcement of the formidably talented Lane brothers.

“There is a lot to do between now and the first match, but it is exciting that Bristol will have a team in the top-flight and the synergies between the Bristol Jets and the rest of our sports teams will work well together to attract even more people to playing and watching sport.”

Season 3 of the AJ Bell NBL will feature players from 16 different nations, including European stars and GB players currently competing in Rio including Chris and Gabby Adcock, Raj Ouseph and Adam Cwalina.

Tickets for the fixtures will be available from the respective team:

Birmingham Lions

Bristol Jets

Loughborough Lightning

Suffolk Saxons

Surrey Smashers

Team Derby

University of Nottingham Badminton

You can view the 2016/17 AJ Bell NBL fixtures here.