Chelsea could be set to lose millions from a potential sponsorship deal ending early. The Blues have many commercial partners ranging from the main shirt sponsors Three to Trivago but one of the more innocuous brands may be forced to pull the plug.
The Blues ran into trouble with Three earlier this year after Roman Abramovich's assets were sanctioned by the UK government in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and his reported actions in regard to it. The mobile phone company temporarily suspended their sponsorship and had some visible traces of the logo wiped from around Stamford Bridge, though it was never removed from the club shirts.
Three signed a major deal with the club in 2020 worth £40m a season, but that ends in 2023 and it is so far uncertain as to whether the deal will be extended. The sponsorship was renewed once the club changed hands to American owners Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital in May.
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Fans reacted badly to the perceived lack of support from Three to the wider club as a whole during the period of being under sanction.
A new sponsor was added over the summer to matchday shirts though, with WhaleFin appearing on the arm of jerseys.
WhaleFin is a cryptocurrency trading platform produced by Amber Group, and this is where the possible loss of money comes in. Amber is a leading digital assets market in Asia but has felt the repercussions of the major collapse of leading crypto group FTX.
This comes after founder Sam Bankman-Fried saw his company lose billions of pounds in a huge crash in November.
Amber are now set to slash their workforce from 700 to 400, according to Bloomberg, in order to save costs after the crash. The Hong Kong company are also set to change offices and locations in a massive downsize in order to accommodate the new market situation.
Although Amber has tried to downplay the speculation it still comes as a blow to Chelsea after agreeing a reported £20m deal to have WhaleFin on their kit for this season. Bloomberg also write that legal proceedings have been started to end the agreement for the sponsorship.
This could result in the club only receiving partial payment, therefore costing millions.
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