Tottenham Hotspur are seeking £11m from the Sir Jim Ratcliffe-owned INEOS firm after the company ended its sponsorship agreement back in December 2024.
Global petrochemicals giant INEOS had been the automotive partner of Spurs since 2022, inking a multi-year deal worth tens of millions, but opted to end their association with the club seven months ago, one of a number of sponsorship deals that they had looked to extricate themselves from, including sponsorship of the New Zealand Rugby All Blacks.
INEOS Automotive, the side of the business that had the deal with Spurs, have since seen legal action from Spurs come their way, with the club taking the matter to the London Commercial Court as they seek to recover what they believe to be monies owed from the deal.
INEOS Automotive have argued that the option to terminate their deal three years into a five-year agreement was within their right.
In a statement to Sky Sports earlier this month, an INEOS spokesperson said: “INEOS Automotive has been a partner of Tottenham Hotspur since 2022, taking on a partnership agreement that INEOS Group had in place with the club since 2020.
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"We have a contractual right to terminate our partnership contract and in December 2024 exercised that right."
According to a report in renowned legal publication The Lawyer, Spurs are seeking as much as £11m, a figure football.london understands to be correct, from INEOS Automotive in relation to the early exit from the agreement.
Football.london reached out to Spurs for comment but were told the club do not comment on live legal matters.
In March, INEOS reached an agreement with New Zealand Rugby after they were threatened with legal action for a similar issue of leaving a partnership early.
On that occasion a settlement was reached, and there remains the possibility that both sides may well find some common ground in the coming days on the matter that is satisfactory to both sides.
Ratcliffe, of course, has a minority stake of 27.1% in Spurs’ Premier League rivals Manchester United, with the deal he struck with the Glazer family back in December of 2023 handing him oversight over football strategy at Old Trafford, as well as the plans to create a new 100,000 seater stadium for a side that has struggled competitively in recent years.