The deal
Chelsea, heavyweights from English men’s soccer’s top-tier Premier League, have finally filled their front-of-shirt sponsorship void through a short-term deal unveiled last week.
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The London club have entered into a tie-up with Dubai-based luxury real estate company Damac Properties, covering the end of the 2024-25 season for both the men’s and women’s Chelsea teams, as well as the men’s Club World Cup in June and July.
The deal got underway with the first leg of the UEFA Conference League semi-final between Chelsea’s men’s team and Djurgården on May 1.
Overall, the shirt sponsorship element is just one part of a wider tie-up between Chelsea and Damac, through which that brand will continue on as a club partner into next season (working on a soccer-themed real estate project in the process) even after giving up front-of-shirt rights.
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By GlobalDataChelsea have not had a primary front-of-shirt sponsor since the end of the 2023-24 campaign, essentially a year ago.
Even the tie-up covering that campaign, a deal with sports data firm Infinite Athlete, which GlobalData Sport has estimated as worth $49 million, was only ever seen as a short-term fix, having been signed a few weeks into the season.
For a major Premier League club to go as long as Chelsea have without filling the most lucrative commercial sponsorship slot on offer is highly unusual, and points to the club’s ownership taking, whether intentionally or due to circumstances dictating this, a very non-traditional approach to the generation of revenues.
Indeed, this approach can be seen in how the club has sold two hotels next to its main Stamford Bridge home stadium, as well as the women’s team, to another entity controlled by its current ownership group (comprised of US businessman Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital private equity firm). The sale of these assets has allowed Chelsea to pass Premier League profit and sustainability regulations over the past couple of seasons.
The arrival of a real estate brand as a sponsor should also be noted, in the context of potential Chelsea infrastructure plans around Stamford Bridge – and potentially even for a new stadium, which has been discussed repeatedly as a possibility over the last few decades (despite possibly being at least 15 years away, Boehly has claimed recently).
Olivia Snooks, analyst at GlobalData Sport, commented: “Chelsea have begun the last two seasons without a front-of-shirt sponsor and have also spent the majority of the 2024-25 season without one. The short-term agreement with Damac Properties – covering only four Premier League games – therefore underscores the club's pressing need for shirt sponsorship. It is hard to overstate how unusual it is in the Premier League for such a short-term deal to be put in place.
“In terms of how such a high-profile club has gone so long without signing a key piece of inventory, this suggests that Chelsea have either priced themselves out, or, more alarmingly, that brands simply have no interest. Indeed, given the way that sponsors abandoned the club towards the end of the Roman Abramovich regime, and the lack of success since the new owners came in, brands may be wary of getting involved with the club.
“On the other side of the coin, for Damac, the short-term deal is very convenient; their main focus is serving as the club’s property development partner beyond just the 2024-25 season, and the two parties are collaborating to build ‘The Chelsea Residences by DAMAC’. In terms of benefits for the club, the initial element provides Chelsea with a short-term cash injection they desperately need to avoid any potential FFP sanctions.
“Securing a spot in next season's Champions League would undoubtedly enhance the club's appeal to potential sponsors, making it a more attractive investment opportunity.”
The details
GlobalData Sport has valued the Chelsea-Damac front-of-shirt sponsorship deal as worth $3.5 million in total.
It covers the remainder of the men’s team’s Premier League and UEFA Conference League campaigns (Chelsea are favorites to win that latter competition), as well as the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup that the West London club are taking part in across June and July, held in the US.
It also covers the last couple of games for the Chelsea Women’s side in the Women’s Super League.
After the Club World Cup, Chelsea are expected to then go back to the market to secure a front-of-shirt sponsor on a much longer-term basis.
This season, the stable of top-tier Chelsea club partners includes brands such as Nike, BingX, and Live Nation, while lower-tier sponsors such as Betway, Cadbury, EA Sports, Linglong Tire, MSC Cruises, Rexona, Three, and Ticketmaster (a recent addition) are also signed on. Infinite Athlete, meanwhile, is this season the sleeve sponsor for the club’s training kits.
Chelsea’s men’s side currently sit fifth in the 20-team Premier League, and if they stay in that spot would qualify for the lucrative 2025-26 UEFA Champions League.
The women’s team, meanwhile, have already won the 2024-25 WSL, and are one game away from going through the whole domestic league season undefeated.
