Premier League giants Chelsea have announced cryptocurrency exchange platform WhaleFin as their new shirt sleeve sponsor for the 2022-23 season.
The deal is reportedly worth a whopping £20 million per year, with WhaleFin replacing South Korean car firm Hyundai as their shirt sleeve sponsor.
This is the first time Chelsea have entered into the crypto market, and the new sponsorship amount is double of what they were getting from Hyundai. Having signed a five-year deal with the South Korean firm in 2018, that agreement was worth £50 million (£10 million per year).
Chelsea’s main sponsor, Three, will continue to appear on the front of the shirt till 2023. That deal is estimated to be worth £40 million a year.
Atletico Madrid in pipeline
Apart from partnering with Chelsea, WhaleFin is also close to reaching an agreement with La Liga side Atletico Madrid. Numerous Spanish news outlets have confirmed that it will be a five-year deal and will be worth more than €40 million a year.
Unlike Chelsea, the Amber Group-owned WhaleFin brand will be Atletico’s main shirt sponsor, replacing Plus500 from the shirt from the next season.
What is WhaleFin?
Founded in 2017, WhaleFin is a digital investing platform which closed a US$200 million investment round in 2021. The company is valued at $3 billion.
"We are entering a digital metaverse, enabled by technologies such as blockchain, AI and big data. Future wealth will be built differently," reads an excerpt from WhaleFin’s website.
Its parent company, the Amber Group is based in Hong Kong and belongs to the fintech (financial technology) sector that operates with bitcoins, digital tokens and other cryptocurrencies.
Featured photo: AFP / Oli Scarff
