Cologne, Germany - Germany's Bundesliga leads the way as football shirt sponsoring continues to defy the credit crunch in Europe's major leagues, according to a report published Tuesday.

Bundesliga clubs are earning 108.6 million euros (162 million dollars) from shirt sponsoring, ahead of England's Premier League on 83.5 million.

Earnings are up by 5.7 million euros for the Bundesliga over the 2008/2009 season, according to the European Jersey Report by sports consultancy Sport+Markt.

Despite the economic crisis earnings from shirt sponsoring in England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands has stabilised at a total of 395.5 million euros annually.

While the Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga and Dutch Eredivisie all recorded overall gains, there was a slight drop of 2 million euros in England while France's Ligue 1 fell 12.2 million.

Germany's Bayern Munich have the best shirt sponsoring deal in Europe, worth 20 million euros from T-Home.

Hartmut Zastrow, chairman of Sport+Markt, said Bundesliga teams remained attractive for sponsors "even in times of crisis" with even promoted teams able to earn more than 2 million euros.

"That is something which is unthinkable in other leagues," he said.

The only disadvantage for the Bundesliga over England, Italy and Spain were restrictions on sponsoring by betting firms who have increased their spending in the sector to 56.4 million euros.

The financial sector continues to make up the biggest share of shirt sponsoring volume at 75.6 million euros, a drop of just 5.1 million over the previous season.

"It shows that the predictions of a withdrawal by the finance branch from shirt sponsoring as a result of the economic crisis were unfounded," Zastrow said. (dpa)