The news that the UK government is sanctioning Roman Abramovich is having huge ripple effects across football and the world, starting with tonight’s game against Norwich.
Telecommunications firm Three, who have been sponsoring Chelsea’s shirts since 2020, have asked the club to remove their branding from their kits immediately, while they consider the future of their £40m a year deal.
A spokesperson said that they would “temporarily suspend our sponsorship of the club, including the removal of our brand from shirts and around the stadium.”
Telecommunications company Three has asked Chelsea to remove their branding from their shirts immediately, having now suspended their sponsorship deal with the club. There’s a kit man in Norwich now heading down to Sports Direct to buy 20 plain blue football tops.
— Matt Lawton (@Lawton_Times) March 10, 2022
This is likely to be the first of many withdrawals in a similar vein as sponsors try to extricate themselves from a PR nightmare. However, as the most visible sign of sponsorship at the club, it is by far the most significant.
The fact that it’s only suspended is interesting – clearly they’re hoping Abramovich can be replaced as cleanly as possible without too much legal wrangling on their end. It’s quite incredible how messy this has all become in the last few days, and this is just the start.
