The deal
English Premier League soccer giants Chelsea have named IFS as their shirt sponsor for the remainder of the 2025-26 season as part of a wider multi-year global partnership with the AI software company.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The tech firm will serve as the club’s principal partner and also feature on the front of the women’s team’s shirts.
Through the tie-up, Chelsea will additionally utilize IFS software and its AI agents within club operations.
Chelsea had been without a shirt sponsor since the start of the season, the third consecutive campaign they began without one.
Why it matters
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataIFS becomes the third company to sign a short-term front-of-shirt deal with Chelsea during the season.
In the 2023-24 campaign, another AI company, Infinite Athlete, agreed to a deal with the club in late September 2023 and featured on the team’s shirts for a large portion of the year.
However, in 2024-25, Dubai-based luxury real estate company Damac Properties took on shirt sponsorship rights for multiple games in the latter stages of the season, which included the UEFA Conference League final that Chelsea won.
Both Damac Properties and IFS agreed to take on short-term shirt sponsorship rights as part of a wider global partnership, which could be a strategic shift by the club as it struggles to secure a long-term partner on lucrative terms.
Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis and consulting at Sportcal (GlobalData Sport), comments: “Chelsea's new sponsorship deal with IFS continues their trend of short-term partnerships, having failed to secure a high-value deal for a key piece of sponsorship inventory.
“With Chelsea reportedly looking for a deal worth $85-90 million per season for their front of shirt, which would make it the most valuable deal of its kind in the Premier League, it could be argued that Chelsea are massively overvaluing their most visible piece of inventory, and that failure to secure a long-term partner is impacting their bottom line.
“With the West London club recording the highest pre-tax loss in English football history throughout the 2024-25 season per UEFA data, with the loss of €407 million ($480 million) only trailing Barcelona, who lost €555 million in 2020-21, it is imperative that their key sponsorship assets are maximized.”
He continued: “Short-term, low-value deals – with the IFS deal only running until the end of the season and likely only worth around £15 million – mean that the club gets some revenue in, but do not suggest that the asset is high value and worth anything like the value Chelsea are looking to secure.
“Chelsea will be back to square one in the summer, and with the club not guaranteed to be back in the Champions League next season, any partner will be looking at a much lower price point if they are to enter into a partnership. Chelsea may be better served by looking at a lower value but securing a longer-term commitment to help with their financial position.”
The details
GlobalData Sport values the club’s overall deal with IFS at around £22 million ($30 million).
Despite not matching the terms Chelsea have been seeking for this inventory, the contract does place it among the top eight in the English top-flight, with a market value of between £45-50 million annually.
The most lucrative deal in the Premier League currently is Manchester United’s partnership with Snapdragon, valued at around £60 million per year.
Assessing the value of Chelsea’s deal with IFS, Will Padmore, senior data researcher at GlobalData, says: “GlobalData estimates that the shirt sponsor aspect of the new deal is around £15 million, with the remainder of the deal valued at just over £7 million.
“Whilst this is a long way short of the £60 million per annum reportedly sought for a long-term deal, it is welcome income. To illustrate the value of the deal, the £15 million sum is greater than the value 12 of the current Premier League teams are estimated to be earning for the full 2025-2026 season.
“With just under a third of the Premier League season to go, and both the men’s and women’s teams still in the FA Cup and Champions League, IFS is set to receive significant exposure in the matches remaining.
“The fee received for roughly 33% of the season also supports Chelsea’s efforts to achieve a high price for a long-term deal, showing that brands are prepared to pay significant sums even for short periods.”
IFS also recently announced a sponsorship deal with the new Cadillac Formula 1 team, which is majority owned by TWG Global, the investment vehicle of Chelsea part-owner Mark Walter, a long-time business partner of the club’s chairman, Todd Boehly.
The AI specialist is the second company linked with Chelsea’s ownership group to become the club’s shirt sponsor after Infinite Athlete.
That deal in 2023 required approval from the Premier League, which investigated the tie-up to ensure it did not breach its Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.
The APT rules were introduced in December 2021 to ensure commercial deals between clubs and entities linked to owners represent “fair market value” to maintain competition.
Infinite Athlete is the parent company of another Chelsea partner, sports technology company Tempus Ex, which has deep ties with the club’s ownership group.
The company is partnered with private equity firm Silver Lake, which is an investor in sports e-commerce company Fanatics. Clearlake Capital and Boehly (via his company, Eldridge) are also major investors in Fanatics.
