Competition in professional football has significant characteristics and in the present days Chelsea has emerged as one of the strongest teams not only in terms of performance but also in the financial point of view. This report presents detailed information about the essential sponsorship relationships on which the club’s prosperity and financial health depend.
In 2023, Chelsea FC has a brand value of around $2.5 billion, a total annual income greater than $600 million and controls operational costs which depict the expensive nature of managing a premier football club firm. At the core of this financial web are Chelsea’s main sponsorships, several of which are worth tens of hundreds of millions of dollars annually such as Nike, Three, and Hyundai.
These partnerships are not only about the income streams; the partnerships increase brand awareness, global presence, and fan base, which is instrumental in supporting the competitiveness of Chelsea. For instance the kit supply deal with Nike is a £60 million per year contract and such partnerships are critical for the clubs.
Here we aim to unravel the definite breaks of these crucial relationships in order to show how the sponsor affiliations support the Club’s financial stability and competitive relevance so that it maintains dominance on the field and professionally.
Main Partners
Infinite Athlete
Following the expiry of their matchday shirt-fronting sponsorship deal with a British telecom firm, Three at the end of Season 2022–23, Chelsea FC entered the ensuing 2023–24 season without a sponsor to fill the position for the mentioned role. Negotiations with the crypto casino and a sports betting online platform has led to no agreement being made.
Nevertheless, in late September, 2023, the Chelsea FC got the permission to seal the deal with the shirt sponsor, Infinite Athlete, a sports technology start-up founded in 2023 as a result of the merger of Tempus Ex Machina and Biocore. Tempus Ex Machina had earlier in April of the year 2023 entered into an agreement with Chelsea FC that was due to last for seven years. The Infinite Athlete deal, that was rumored to be as high as £40 million per annum, was officially announced by the club by the last week of September of the year 2023.
Nike
In October 2016 Nike acquired a long-term deal with Chelsea FC to become the club’s technical sponsor for the 2017/2018 season ending the partnership with Adidas company which has been eleven years. Priced at above $1 billion US dollars in fifteen years, this was the biggest contract that Nike signed with any Premier League club in the past. This record can be topped when Nike joins a much better deal with Liverpool FC in January 2020.
trivago
Chelsea FC joined forces with the Dutch global accommodation search platform trivago which is based in Amsterdam as per the deal in May 2021 as the Official Training Wear Partner. This deal involves the seasoned and academy teams of both the male and female categories. Trivago sponsoring appeared to change the logo of the Thai energy drink brand Carabao on the shirt fronts, bibs, and back-of-neck coaching jackets. Apart from branding rights, the deal includes the rights to other experience including interactions with players, training sessions from Chelsea’s trainers among other special rights to have access to an exceptional trivago suite at the Stamford Bridge, home to Chelsea’s senior men’s football team.
BingX
A Singapore-based, global cryptocurrency exchange platform with more than 10 million registered traders across the world, BingX appointed as the Shirt Sleeve Sponsor for the Chelsea FC Senior Men’s team starting from the match day up to the end of 2023/2024 season and more as the Official Crypto Exchange Partner of Chelsea FC from January 2024. Further, from the 2024/25 season, trading will switch from trivago to be BingX, the new Chelsea Official Training Wear partner. This goes further than the mere naming rights, thus the cooperation targets the development of the global brands and participation of both Chelsea fans and the users of BingX through active digital content.
Official Partners
Cadbury
In August 2020 the Blues inked a partnership deal with Mondelēz International which owns Cadbury and made the company the official chocolate partner of Chelsea FC. It has helped Cadbury to be able to assist entrepreneurs and small businesses through Chelsea FC Foundation Experience and Edge of the Box Club. These efforts include the organization of seminars on issues that are relevant to business, for instance in brand marketing and sales, and thus are of value in providing important contacts for brand development. The collaboration was revived in March 2023 with the emphasis on increasing the deaf population’s equity with other citizens of the United States.
EA Sports
The company that developed the famous football simulation video game series FIFA at this point renamed as EA Sports FC, has had an official collaboration with Chelsea FC since 2008. The Chelsea FC rights are with EA Sports meaning the company has the permission to use players’ images, kits and stadium in the EA Sports FC FIFA games in the current year. Also, there is the connection and development of social media campaigns that would have logos from both parties. The two parties have concluded an official partnership officially in December of the years 2021 as they continue to have a partnership for a long time now.
FICO
In May 2023, a finance analytics and credits reporting firm with its headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, FICO partnered with Chelsea FC as the senior men’s official tour partner throughout the 2023-2024 pre-season tour of the US East Coast. This partnership embedded FICO branding rights and aimed at enhancing people’s understanding of the significance of the issue of financial literacy in the United States. For the FICO’s “Field of Financial Empowerment” campaign, it included the “Score A Better Future Fundamentals” financial talks to high school groups in cities that Chelsea had visited during the pre-season tour. Also, spectators who participated in the workshop were able to have the extra privilege of watching Chelsea play real matches as opposed to watching the matches on TV.
Hilton
The global hospitality company based in McLean, Virginia became the club’s official global hotel partner as from July 2023. Other than brand partnership, this deal identifies Hilton’s collection of upscale properties as the official ‘away from home’ of Chelsea’s teams during their away matches.
Levy Restaurants
Levy UK has had the privilege of being the official catering partner to Chelsea FC since August 2014 and later renewed in May’ 2019 to the year 2023. This deal guarantees that Levy offers the best catering services not only on match days at Stamford Bridge but also at other facilities of Chelsea FC. These are the training facility in Cobham, the music venue Under the Bridge on site, the Chelsea Health Club & Spa, and Frankie’s Sports Bar & Grill, thus offering cohesion with central contracts and maintaining the standards of the caterer for all settings of the club.
MSC Cruises
Since the beginning of the year 2019, this Geneva based global cruise line has been the official global cruise partner of the Chelsea FC. It gives the opportunity to the particular cruise line to expand its database of clients and to have ambassadors of the club. The partnership started several months before the MSC Bellissima, which was launched in March 2019, and it brought Chelsea’s memorabilia on board and representatives of the club participated in the ceremony of the ship’s naming. MSC Cruises and CFC had their business partnership agreement in 2021 which is expected to end in June 2024.
Oman Air
The Muscat based Omani legacy airline signed its very first deal with a Premier League club in July to become the Official Airline Partner of Chelsea FC.
Parimatch
Parimatch, a Limassol based sports betting company became an Official Partner of the Chelsea FC in August 2021 with a three-year contract. In addition to the branding rights on both banners and the kits, there are the experiences and prizes specific to the Chelsea fans. While it was claimed that the firm severed ties with the football club in late March 2022 in response to Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, Parimatch is still mentioned and displayed on the Chelsea FC’s official website as the firm on the list of the club’s sponsors.
Sure (Rexona)
Chelsea FC has worked with Rexona since 2017, which is a brand of deodorants owned by Unilever operating globally with the ‘Sure’ brand name in the UK. The main company Unilever also has a very close link with Chelsea FC through sponsoring grassroots football in Africa. Apart from rights to brand, this relationship entails sharing campaign experiences and giving the fans as many wonderful experiences as possible. Their major activity in this joint venture is called Breaking Limits, which focuses on capacity building and the provision of the necessary push for youths to move. Rexona and Chelsea FC extended the partnership up to 2025 in October 2023; in addition to that, Ben Chilwell became the part of the Rexona brand team with Sam Kerr, Melanie Leupolz, and Lauren James.
The St. James
The St James is an American Wellness and fitness organization based out of The Springfield Virginia and was officially named the official partners of Chelsea FC in July 2023. Other than branding rights, this entails progressive youth soccer programmes, training and clinics for The St. James that shall be facilitated by Chelsea coaches. Also, Chelsea won the Youth Club World Cup Championship in Washington D.C making the cooperation between the two firms more firm.
Three
As a British telecom company head-quartered in Reading, Three signed an initial three-year partnership deal with Chelsea FC starting January 2020 as their Principal Partner. This solid partnership was in display with Three’s “3” logo appearing on Chelsea’s matchday shirts during what was known as “Project Restart,” the remainder of the 2019-20 English Premier League season that kicked in after the first Covid lockdown in the United Kingdom.
The sponsorship saw Yokohama Tyres, which used to be the principal sponsor of the team, downgraded to being a team sponsor. According to reports, the communications deal with Three was similar in revenue generated to the £40 million per annum received through Yokohama Tyres sponsorship and facilitated the setting up of 5G signals in Stamford Bridge. Three ended its sponsorship deal with Chelsea in March 2022 because of sanctions that the UK government placed on Abramovich resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Nevertheless, before the suspension, Three’s logos could be seen on all the Chelsea related equipment, from the players’ matchday kits to the squad’s equipment kits. In the following June, when Todd Boehly’s consortium bought Chelsea, Three continued its marketing strategies with Chelsea FC. Yet, Three terminated the front of the shirt sponsorship deal before the start of the 2023/2024 season, but it is still a sponsor of Chelsea.
TMGM
In July 2023, this online trading platform signed a strategic cooperation partnership with Chelsea FC based on the Asian market as its official regional online Forex and trading partner for several years.
Official Partners Of The Women’s Team
AllBright
AllBright, founded in London, calls itself the world’s premier career network for women as well; it joined forces with Chelsea FC in January 2023 to offer such tailored services for the club’s women employees. In March the same year, Chelsea FC came out officially to announce AllBright as their official partner. Apart from branding rights, other partnership activities and exclusive cooperation in the world of player, manager, fan, and club experiences are also provided by AllBright to expand the business internationally. They include women’s leadership development for women across the club and player of the year awards for on pitch achievements. Further, the players in Chelsea’s senior women team receive services from AllBright in professional progression.
LEGO
In June 2023 LEGO started a new campaign of “Unstoppable FC”, with Arsenal FC, Aston Villa FC and Chelsea FC all senior women’s teams playing in the FA Women’s Super League. The campaign also has professional footballers, Rachel Daly, Lauren Hemp, Sam Kerr, and Beth Mead. Under the LEGO brand’s “Play Unstoppable” initiative, the “Unstoppable FC” is a campaign focused on teaching resilience to girls as an outcome of LEGO play and football with the help of workshops and published materials.
Singer Capital Markets
Chelsea Women have matchday shorts sponsored with the London based British investment bank. Both firms will work together in producing co-branded content involving Chelsea Women’s players and their technical director, Emma Hayes for the next three years in a continuous agreement.
Lindahls
Thus, in September 2023, the Swedish high-protein dairy brand of the Lactalis Nestlé company, Lindahls, was recognized as the official supplier of sports nutrition for the Chelsea senior women’s team during the next season of the 2023/2024 academic year. This advertising partnership gives Lindahls the branding on Chelsea Women’s home league matches at Kingsmeadow and Stamford Bridge, plus social media promotion. Furthermore, another form of direct support from the fan’s perspective relates to the transportation of the supporter to the team’s domestic away games through subsidization by Lindahls.
Škoda UK
In January 2024, the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto announced that their British division is to become the official car partner of Chelsea Women football club and it is their first deal in women’s football. This partnership that is principally built on Škoda displaying its Enyaq SUV and Coupe models, entitles brand placement at Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow during Chelsea Women home matches. Furthermore, the objectives entailed integrated content that involved both Škoda UK and Chelsea Women’s social media presence. In the deal, Chelsea Women Company also uses and distributes Enyaqs for the playing (senior team and the youth teams) and non-playing employees.
Additional Partners
Tempus Ex, based in San Francisco, California was named a Chelsea FC partner in April 2023 in what was described as a seven year deal. This affiliation entails Tempus Ex to implement technology into every aspect of Chelsea FC and offer opportunities to fashion interactive activities around the live events. These areas are the 5th Stand app which is the official club app and digital and mobile fans, fan experience in the stadium media, and sponsors. Furthermore Tempus Ex technology will be used in coaching, training, players health and safety, match analysis.
