Sports Direct is one of the UK’s most-visited retailers, with more than 300 stores and a large online customer base. When someone dies, the immediate tasks are manageable: there is no complex loyalty account to wind down and no savings balance held on the deceased’s behalf. But there is an important complication that catches many families off guard.
Sports Direct is owned by Frasers Group – a conglomerate that operates many well-known high street and online brands. If the deceased shopped across the group, each brand is a separate legal entity and will need to be notified separately. Families may find they are dealing with Sports Direct, Flannels, USC, Jack Wills, and Evans Cycles all at once – through different contact channels, with different processes. This guide covers the Sports Direct notification first, then works through the Frasers Group portfolio.
Quick reference:
- Customer service email: cs@sportsdirect.com
- Customer service phone: 0845 1299 200
- No dedicated bereavement team: goes through general customer service
- Gift cards: expire 24 months from purchase; bearer instruments; not exchangeable for cash
- Frasers Plus (credit account): FCA-regulated; must be notified separately; outstanding balance is an estate liability
- Loyalty scheme: closed January 2026 – no points to retrieve
How to contact Sports Direct
Sports Direct does not have a dedicated bereavement team or a separate bereavement phone line. All enquiries about a deceased customer’s account go through general customer service.
Email: cs@sportsdirect.com – the main customer service email address. This is a good first contact for non-urgent matters. Write a clear subject line such as “Deceased customer account – estate query” and in the body provide the deceased’s full name, date of death, and email address associated with the account. Attach a copy of the death certificate if you have it digitally.
Phone: 0845 1299 200 – Sports Direct’s customer service line. Note that 0845 numbers are not always covered by mobile inclusive minutes; check your phone provider’s rate before calling. Hours are typically Monday to Friday during business hours, though these are not prominently published. (Source: Resolver UK – Sports Direct contact details, last verified May 2026.)
Postal address: Unit A, Brook Park East, Meadow Lane, Shirebrook, NG20 8RY – for any written correspondence, including formal letters of administration.
Data protection requests: If you need to access account details as an executor and Sports Direct require formal evidence of your authority, data-related queries can be directed to data.protection@frasers.group.
There is no evidence of a specialist estate team, a dedicated bereavement phone line, or a notification form on the Sports Direct website. The process is therefore a standard customer service contact: explain that you are the executor or next of kin, that the account holder has died, and that you wish to close the account and enquire about any outstanding orders or gift card balances.
Gift cards and account credit
Gift cards
Sports Direct gift cards are bearer instruments – they function like cash and can be used by anyone who holds them. This means:
- A gift card found among the deceased’s possessions is an asset of the estate, to be treated accordingly
- It does not need to be formally “claimed” through customer service – it can simply be used
- The balance does not have to be declared to Sports Direct
Expiry: Sports Direct gift cards expire 24 months from the date of purchase. Any remaining balance after this point is cancelled with no refund. If the deceased held gift cards, check when they were purchased – if the cards are approaching the two-year mark, they should be used or noted in the estate inventory promptly. (Source: Sports Direct Help Centre – Gift cards, last verified May 2026.)
Balance check: Sports Direct does not publish a clear balance-check page. Contact cs@sportsdirect.com or call 0845 1299 200 and quote the card number (usually on the back of the card) to enquire about the remaining balance.
Cash exchange: Gift cards cannot be exchanged for cash, and no cash change is given when the balance is not fully spent in a single transaction. Refunds for returned items go back to the original payment method – if a gift card was used, the refund returns to the card, not as cash.
Online account credit and pending orders
If the deceased had an account on sportsdirect.com, it may hold:
- Order history and any active or pending orders
- Stored payment card details (these present no financial risk once the underlying cards are cancelled)
- Any promotional credit or vouchers issued by Sports Direct
Contact Sports Direct to close the account. Ask specifically about pending orders – any items not yet dispatched should be cancelled, and items already dispatched will need to be returned if you do not want them. Refunds for returns will go back to the original payment method.
The Frasers Group portfolio
This is the section most families are not aware of when they start the process.
Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, also operates a large portfolio of other retail brands. Each of these is a separate legal entity. If the deceased held accounts, gift cards, or outstanding orders with any of them, each one needs to be notified and dealt with independently.
The main Frasers Group brands as of 2026:
| Brand | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sports Direct | Sports retail | Main brand, covered above |
| House of Fraser / Frasers | Premium department store | Being rebranded from House of Fraser to Frasers |
| Flannels | Luxury fashion | Separate website and account system |
| USC | Fashion retail | streetwear, casualwear |
| Jack Wills | Preppy fashion | Acquired 2019 |
| Evans Cycles | Cycling specialist | Acquired 2019 |
| GAME | Gaming retail | Partnership arrangement |
| Gieves & Hawkes | Bespoke tailoring | Luxury menswear |
| Lillywhites | Sports retail | Flagship Piccadilly Circus store |
The group also owns several sporting goods brands as intellectual property – Everlast, Lonsdale, Slazenger, Karrimor, Donnay, and others – but these are product brands rather than separate retailers requiring estate notification.
(Source: Wikipedia – Frasers Group, last verified May 2026.)
JD Sports is not part of Frasers Group
A common misconception worth clearing up: JD Sports is a completely separate company – it is not owned by, affiliated with, or part of Frasers Group in any way. JD Sports is a direct competitor of Sports Direct. If the deceased shopped at JD Sports, that notification is handled entirely separately.
Frasers Plus: the group-wide credit product
Frasers Group operates Frasers Plus, a credit account and rewards platform that spans the group. Frasers Group Financial Services Limited, which operates Frasers Plus, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means it is a regulated credit product, not a retailer loyalty card.
If the deceased held a Frasers Plus account, this is an estate liability matter – not just an account closure. Outstanding balances do not disappear on death; they become a debt of the estate, to be handled in the same way as any other unsecured credit.
Contact for Frasers Plus matters is through frasersplus.com. As an FCA-regulated lender, Frasers Group Financial Services must follow the Bereavement and vulnerability guidelines set out by the FCA – they should handle your notification sensitively and without adding charges or pressure during the estate administration period.
Online account and click & collect
Account closure
The deceased’s Sports Direct online account can be closed by contacting customer service at cs@sportsdirect.com. Provide the deceased’s name, date of death, and the email address associated with the account. Sports Direct will need to verify your identity as executor or next of kin.
If you do not have the login credentials, you can still request account closure via email or phone – you do not need to be able to log in. Under UK GDPR, you have the right as an executor to request information held about the deceased and to request that the account be closed. Data-related requests can be directed to data.protection@frasers.group.
Click & collect orders
If the deceased had outstanding Click & Collect orders that had not yet been picked up, these will sit in the queue awaiting collection. Contact Sports Direct to cancel these orders – you will typically need the order number (available in the confirmation email) and the account details.
Where an order has already been dispatched, the estate is not obligated to collect it. Contact Sports Direct to arrange return and refund.
Staff and employee considerations
Frasers Group employs around 30,000 people across its UK operations. If the deceased worked at Sports Direct, the following may need to be addressed:
Final pay and P45: Contact Frasers Group HR or the store management team. Final pay – including any outstanding holiday pay – is owed to the estate. A P45 will be issued for tax purposes.
Frasers Group employee share scheme: In 2020, Frasers Group introduced an employee bonus scheme (referred to in the press as “Fearless 1,000”) allowing eligible employees to receive share awards if the company’s share price reached a target threshold. If the deceased was a participant, any vested shares or pending share awards need to be identified through the HR team or the scheme administrator. Unvested awards under long-term incentive schemes typically lapse on death, though some schemes allow the trustees discretion to vest a proportion – check the scheme rules.
Uniform and equipment: Sports Direct staff uniforms are typically issued by the employer. Return procedures should be confirmed with the store manager.
Staff discounts and accounts: Any staff discount account should be closed through HR. There is no financial balance at risk, but any active staff orders should be resolved before the account is closed.
For the final pay and any share scheme queries, write to Frasers Group’s head office at Unit A, Brook Park East, Meadow Lane, Shirebrook, NG20 8RY, addressed to the HR department.
What to watch out for
Frasers Plus balances can be easy to miss. The Frasers Plus credit account is relatively new – launched as a replacement for the previous loyalty scheme in early 2026 – and many families will not know the deceased held one. Check bank statements for any payments described as FSUK or Frasers Group Financial Services. If you find these, the account must be notified as a credit account, not just a retail account.
The gift card two-year window is a hard cutoff. Unlike some retailers, Sports Direct does not reinstate expired gift card balances. If you find old gift cards among the deceased’s possessions, check the purchase date before assuming they have value.
BNPL through Klarna. Klarna is available at Sports Direct UK as a payment method, offering pay-in-3 instalments and other deferred payment options. If the deceased used Klarna to buy at Sports Direct, those instalments are a debt of the estate – they do not disappear on death. Notify Klarna separately: see our guide to notifying Klarna when someone dies.
Each Frasers Group brand is separate. Customer service for Flannels is not the same as customer service for Sports Direct. Do not assume that notifying Sports Direct closes all Frasers Group accounts – you will need to go to each brand individually.
The loyalty scheme is closed. Sports Direct’s free loyalty scheme closed on 31 January 2026. There are no points to retrieve, no prizes pending. If the deceased had the Sports Direct app with points showing, those points are no longer redeemable.
Checklist: what to do
| Task | Action | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Sports Direct account closure | Email with death certificate and executor details | cs@sportsdirect.com |
| Gift cards | Use within 24 months of purchase – bearer instruments | Any Sports Direct store or sportsdirect.com |
| Pending orders / Click & Collect | Contact to cancel; return dispatched items | cs@sportsdirect.com / 0845 1299 200 |
| Frasers Plus credit account | Notify as a debt of the estate; request freeze on interest | frasersplus.com |
| Klarna at Sports Direct | Notify Klarna separately | See Klarna guide |
| Other Frasers Group brands | Notify each separately (Flannels, USC, Jack Wills, Evans Cycles) | Each brand’s own CS channel |
| Final pay (if employed) | Contact Frasers Group HR or store management | hr@frasers.group / store manager |
| Share scheme (if applicable) | Contact HR for scheme details and estate claim | Frasers Group head office |
Where to go next
For a full overview of organisations to contact when someone dies, see our complete guide to what to do when someone dies.
If the deceased shopped at other sports and fashion retailers, you may also need to deal with:
- Notifying JD Sports when someone dies – JD Group brand portfolio, JD Status loyalty points, Klarna and Clearpay at JD Sports
- Notifying Next when someone dies – includes Next Pay credit account, gift cards, and online account closure
- Notifying H&M when someone dies – loyalty points, Klarna, and account closure process
- Notifying Primark when someone dies – gift cards, Click & Collect, and BNPL considerations
- Notifying Klarna when someone dies – full guide to settling BNPL debts that do not disappear on death