22 Oct 2025 10:40:36
Update on FOS from the athletic.
Chelsea have agreed a new shirt sleeve sponsorship deal with FPT corporation for the rest of the 2025-26 season and are in the closing stages of finding a new front of shirt sponsor too.
FPT, which is based in Vietnam and is one of Asia-Pacifics most successful technology solutions providers, were keen to upgrade their relationship with the club having initially joined as an official global partner in April.
Chelsea president and chief operating officer Jason Gannon and president of commercial Todd Kline played a key role in negotiations. The deal is in line with the value other top Premier League clubs have secured and will see FPT on the sleeves of the mens, womens and academy teams. It will be seen for the first time in Chelseas Champions League game at home to Ajax on Wednesday night.
The club began the season without a shirt sleeve partner. Live Nation, who remain a partner at Chelsea, had their company on the shirts from early February to the FIFA Club World Cup Final in July.
Chelseas strong conclusion to 2024-25 triggered even more competition to become their shirt sleeve sponsor. In May they finished fourth in the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League and won the Conference League. Two months later they became the first team to win the Club World Cup, beating Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain in the final.
Unusually, Chelsea players have not had a sponsor's logo on their chests so far this season - but there is a sense of a calculated gamble
More companies entered the bidding process for the sleeve and many of them are expected to try again for next season.
Meanwhile, sources speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships say Chelseas thorough process to find a front-of-shirt sponsor is nearing a conclusion.
With Gannon and Kline again to the fore, there are now less than a handful of discussions with companies taking pace. They are very advanced and a final decision is expected in the near term.
Negotiations have included the prospect of being a multi-faceted partnership which goes beyond just having the companys name displayed on the front of Chelseas kit.
Chelseas bid to find a front-of-shirt sponsor has been a talking point since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium bought the club three years ago. Chelsea did not have one in 2022-23. The following season
began without one too but a deal worth in excess of £40million was announced in September for the rest of that campaign with Infinite Athlete.
In 2024-25 nothing was in place until Dubai-based property company Damac came on board in April for seven games, not including the Club World Cup.
Chelsea have been talking to a number of major companies for several months with the focus being on finding the right partner rather than rushing to get it done. With the clubs profile growing higher once more after winning two major trophies and playing in the Champions League again, it has made them an even more attractive proposition and helped their bargaining position.
22 Oct 2025 11:05:15
RPD, thanks for passing on this update. Very interesting.
22 Oct 2025 11:43:10
Cheers RPD, some good confirmed news o spinser, it's a shame the sleeve sponser is only for the rest of the season but will take what we can get.
22 Oct 2025 14:12:07
Yes thanks RPD this was interesting and I hadn't thought about question of side of shirt sponsorship.
23 Oct 2025 08:09:41
RPD, thanks. I read somewhere that one of the factors in the delay is the outstanding FA and PL charges.