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What is new Chelsea shirt sponsor DAMAC - and how are they connected to Donald Trump?
For the first time this season, Chelsea are playing with a front-of-shirt sponsor after signing a short-term sponsorship deal with Dubai-based property developers DAMAC.
Their name first appeared on the club’s kit in Thursday night’s Europa Conference League semi-final first leg win over Swedish side Djurgården, and will be seen in the Premier League on Sunday when Enzo Maresca’s side take on champions Liverpool as they compete for a place in the top five and thus the Champions League.
But who are DAMAC, how long does the deal last, and what are the Emirati company’s connections with controversial American president Donald Trump?
Who are new Chelsea shirt sponsor DAMAC?
Formed in 2002, DAMAC are a Dubai property development company who specialise in luxury properties, primarily in the Middle East.
They have struck a deal to take over the vacant space on the front of Chelsea’s shirts for the remainder of the domestic and European season, including the club’s final four Premier League matches and the Conference League final, should the Blues qualify after the second leg, which takes place on Thursday 8 May.
The deal does not currently extend past the end of the season, and unless an extension is agreed, DAMAC’s name will not appear on Chelsea’s kits in the 2025/26 season or during the newly-expanded Club World Cup, which takes place in the United States in June and July.
Chelsea had previously been without a front-of-shirt sponsor since the summer, after previous sponsor Infinite Athlete altered their deal with the club to move from shirtfront to the sleeves of the club’s training kit.
According to The Evening Standard, Chelsea are “still in talks” with other companies about prospective deals for sponsorship during the Club World Cup and moving forward into next season.
As it stands, no sponsor has been announced for the club’s kits – details of which recently appeared to leak online – for the forthcoming campaign and the club could end up without a front-of-shirt sponsor once more if a deal isn’t struck.
DAMAC’s ‘Chelsea Residences’ and links to Donald Trump
As part of the deal, DAMAC is also set to begin work on a development in Dubai known as ‘Chelsea Residencies by DAMAC’, a football-themed and club-branded property in Maritime City. Chelsea’s chief operating officer Jason Gannon said in a statement that “the collaboration will bring Chelsea to life in Dubai [and] support our continued growth on the global stage. We can’t wait to see Chelsea Residences take its place in the Dubai skyline.”
The project is set to include 1,400 luxury apartments with waterfront views and “high-performance spaces designed to reflect Chelsea FC’s spirit of excellence”, according to an announcement. The apartments are expected to be completed in 2029.
Some supporters may be made uneasy by the company’s close links with American president Donald Trump. DAMAC has been connected to the Trump family since 2013, according to a report by The New York Times, when a partnership was agreed to build a licensed Trump International Golf Course in one of their luxury Middle Eastern developments.
The connect between the president and DAMAC appears to have deepened in the intervening years, with company founder Hussain Sajwani invited by the President to speak at Trump’s Florida resort Mar-a-Largo in January in order to announce a $20bn investment deal in the United States.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment,” Sajwani said during the announcement. “We’re very, very excited now with his leadership and his open strategy and policy to encourage businesses to come to the US.”
Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric also attended the wedding of Sajwani’s daughter in 2018, and the DAMAC chief has been dubbed ‘The Donald of Dubai’ by some sections of the media.
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