Stoke City announces stadium will be renamed bet365 Stadium

Questions of whether Lionel Messi can perform on a cold, rainy Tuesday night at the Britannia Stadium will have to be rephrased, as Stoke City announced its stadium will be known as the bet365 Stadium next season.

The new name will come into effect at the start of the 2016-17 campaign, after Stoke signed a six-year naming rights agreement with the team's owners, bet365. The deal also includes an extension of its shirt sponsorship agreement with the betting company.

The Premier League side also revealed plans to extend the seating capacity by "filling in" a corner of the 20-year-old stadium, providing an extra 1,800 seats. The additional seats will extend the stadium's capacity to more than 30,000.

"The Premier League is constantly evolving, and to ensure that Stoke City remains as competitive as possible, it's important we explore as many ways as possible of generating revenue," Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes told the team's website.

"As supporters are no doubt aware, the Britannia brand no longer exists, and it was important that we attracted a new stadium naming rights partner."

Stoke has called the stadium home since 1997, when it officially brought an end to its 119-year occupation of the Victoria Ground.