Chelsea have announced that Artificial Intelligance firm IFS will be the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor until the end of the season.
The west London club have been without a long-term shirt sponsor since their lucrative agreement with mobile phone company Three ended in 2023.
IFS’ agreement with Chelsea will see their logo feature on the front of the men’s and women’s teams’ kits with immediate effect, meaning Liam Rosenior’s side will wear the new shirts for their Premier League match against Burnley on Saturday and Sonia Bompastor’s team will do the same against Manchester United in Sunday’s Women’s FA Cup clash.
Chelsea described the agreement as a “multi-year global partnership” but did not confirm if IFS would continue to be the team’s main kit sponsor beyond the end of the current campaign. The club did not reveal the value of the deal.
AI company IFS will appear on the front of Chelsea’s shirts for the remainder of the season. Chelsea FC
IFS, which a Chelsea statement says is the world’s leading provide of industrial AI software, describe themselves as delivering industry-specific, contextual intelligence trusted by the world’s leading organisations.
The AI firm’s deal comes 2½ years after the Three deal expired. Sports data technology company Infinite Athlete became Chelsea’s front-of-shirt sponsor on a short-term agreement from September 2023. Last season, Chelsea were without a main shirt sponsor until the final few weeks of the campaign when Emirati property development company DAMAC appeared on their shirts for a short spell.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with IFS and leverage their leading edge AI software to help propel the club to even greater success,” Chelsea president Jason Gannon said. “This partnership is a statement of intent to keep leading in this field, harnessing the opportunities advanced technology brings and unlocking the power of AI to improve everything we do on and off the pitch.”
– Why Chelsea will (and won’t) win the Champions League
– Chelsea’s Rosenior: Anyone guilty of racism ‘shouldn’t be in the game’
– UWCL talking points: Are Arsenal favourites vs. Chelsea?
