Chelsea enjoyed a solid 2024/25 season under Enzo Maresca as they shook off the malaise of recent years to seal their return to the Champions League.
In addition, Chelsea also cruised to the Europa Conference League title, adding yet another trophy to their extensive collection of European accolades.
Chelsea now have a busy summer on the cards – they’ll look to sign players, they’ll be competing in the Club World Cup, and then there’s the issue of securing a front-of-shirt sponsor.
The Blues spent most of the season without a sponsor after their deal with Infinite Athlete expired last summer.
DAMAC briefly sponsored Chelsea’s shirt for the last month of the 2024/25 campaign, but this will not continue into the Club World Cup.
Adam Williams, TBR Football’s Head of Football Finance and Governance Content, explains how much money Chelsea have left on the table due to this.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
The Sponsor has published its annual Premier League fair market sponsorship values research, covering all 20 clubs’ front-of-shirt and sleeve sponsorship assets.
As per the methodology in place, Chelsea’s Fair Market Value (FMV) is deemed to be £50.3million, one of the highest in the Premier League.
Williams wrote: “With Chelsea, it looked at one point like the lack of a front-of-shirt sponsor could be make or break with PSR. But thanks to the accounting sleights of hand, that’s not an immediate issue now.
“In fact, they have more headroom than just about anyone else in the Premier League.
“Where the lack of a front-of-shirt deal – which is typically the second-most valuable asset in a club’s portfolio after the kit manufacturer deal – is significant, however, is cash flow.
“The intra-company sales of the two hotels at Stamford Bridge, the car park and the women’s team all help with PSR, but none of these deals involved real cash. It was an artificial PSR profit.
“The owners have been very obliging with putting real cash into the club. There was £315m in capital injections in the last financial year, but that has mostly gone to cover running costs. Their cash balance still declined in 2023-24, so it shows the need to have cash in the business, not just PSR headroom.
“Chelsea were reportedly asking for £60m from potential front-of-shirt partners. Value is subjective, ultimately. But even if you get less than the £50m that The Sponsor are outlining as fair market value in their research – let’s say £45m – that’s still almost 10 per cent of your annual revenue.
“To forego that for nearly one-and-a-half seasons is madness.
“They want a long-term deal, which is smart because it bakes in revenue for up to a decade sometimes, which allows you to budget for seasons in advance, rather than living hand-to-mouth in two or three-year cycles.
“However, that doesn’t justify missing out on a one-year deal at a reduced rate this season – they’ve just left £50m on the table, effectively.”
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As of 1 May 2025, Chelsea are still considering their options over a longer-term agreement, and there don’t appear to have been any updates since.
Multiple brands are still in talks in what football.london sources deemed a ‘competitive process.’ The Blues ‘are keen to find a deal with the right company’.
With Chelsea now in the Champions League and having won a trophy in recent weeks, they are bound to have plenty of good options now.