Affiliate Leaders Awards crown 2026 winners in Lisbon

• Clever Advertising retains Affiliate Employer of the Year and adds Affiliate Traffic Source of the Year.
• Flashscore Network wins Sports Affiliate of the Year for the second year running.
• Brian Christopher and Anastasiia Shcherbyna share the Affiliate Leader of the Year title.

Clever Advertising won two titles at the Affiliate Leaders Awards at Lisbon’s MEO Arena on 30 September. Flashscore Network, RavenTrack and Vegas Legends all held on to trophies they won at last year’s inaugural ceremony.

Awards were presented in 20 categories.

Defending champions hold firm

Clever Advertising had a standout evening. The company kept hold of Affiliate Employer of the Year and also collected Affiliate Traffic Source of the Year.

Flashscore Network won Sports Affiliate of the Year for the second year running. On the casino side, Catena Media took home Casino Affiliate of the Year.

Hub Affiliations secured Best Affiliate Network. The network had a second reason to celebrate, as its Anna Maria Baccaro retained her title as Affiliate Content Manager of the Year.

Elsewhere in the affiliate categories, BIG4PLAY was named Rising Star of the Year (Affiliate). GottaGamble won Crypto Affiliate of the Year and Better Collective collected Affiliate Product Innovation. SlotCatalog won Affiliate-led Campaign of the Year.

Shared at the top

The Affiliate Leader of the Year award went to two people. Brian Christopher, Creator and CEO of BC Ventures, shares the honour with Anastasiia Shcherbyna, CMO at Melbet.

Affiliate managers on the operator side were also recognised. Leon Constantinou of Entain was named Affiliate Account / Community Manager of the Year. Giannis Stavropoulos of Stoiximan won Affiliate Marketing Manager of the Year.

In the operator categories, Vegas Legends won Affiliate Programme of the Year (Medium / Small) for the second consecutive year. Novibet took the large programme award. Betsson Group won Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year.

The supplier categories also produced a repeat winner. RavenTrack retained Affiliate Management Platform of the Year. Evolution won Casino Title of the Year, and PartnerMatrix was named Affiliate Technology of the Year.

Basher Agency collected Marketing Agency of the Year.

Affiliates go solo

This was the second edition of the awards, which cover performance from May 2025 to April 2026. Sports presenter Alison Bender and Portuguese football legend Nuno Gomes co-hosted the ceremony in front of 300 industry professionals.

The ceremony formed part of the Affiliate Leaders Summit. The summit began in 2024 as a zone inside SBC Summit. This year it ran as a standalone event with its own exhibition floor, conference agenda and ticketing. Both events took place at Feira Internacional de Lisboa from 29 September to 1 October.

Novibet and Betsson Group also defended operator titles at the main SBC Awards 2026 the following night.

Rasmus Sojmark, Founder and CEO, SBC, said:

“The global affiliate sector is an indispensable part of our industry, and we are incredibly proud to continue providing a ceremony dedicated to celebrating its achievements.

“It’s so much more than winning an award; it’s a physical representation of a job well done, a change made and an impact on the industry. With this year’s record-breaking number of entrants and the enthusiasm we saw in the room, it’s clear the industry feels the same.”

The trophies arrive at a demanding moment for the channel. As of 7 October, Google no longer certifies affiliate ads targeting Croatia, which closes that paid-search route to comparison sites.

In Italy, the one-domain rule has removed more than 350 skin domains and left 46 authorised operators.

With paid reach narrowing and operator rosters shrinking, compliance and editorial trust look set to weigh more heavily in how affiliates win partners.