Chelsea FC have signed a 5year shirt deal with a Japanese Tyre Firm

Chelsea have announced The Yokohama Rubber Company as their
new official shirt partner in a near £40million-a-year agreement
which vindicates owner Roman Abramovich holding out for this
mega deal.


The five-year contract is the second highest kit endorsement ever
signed by an English club – only behind Manchester United’s £53m
agreement with Chevrolot – and is more than double the annual
value of Chelsea’s 10-year partnership with Samsung, which
expires at the end of the season.

Chelsea had a £25m offer from Turkish Airlines on the table for
months , but demanding Abramovich wanted a lot more. The
Yokohama contract leapfrogs Chelsea above Arsenal, Liverpool and
Manchester City in the shirt sponsorship table as well as helping
with UEFA financial fair play rules.

It is also a notable triumph for Chelsea’s commercial chief Christian
Purslow , the former Liverpool managing director, brought in last
October after the departure of Ron Gourlay to re-structure
Chelsea’s commercial department and find that big-money shirt
sponsor.

Purslow’s first move was to bring in outside agency HTH, formed
by two ex-Manchester United commercial executives, to help in the
hunt which has reaped huge rewards.

Yokohama, who manufacture tyres, also sponsor NBA teams Boston
Celtic and the San Antonio Spurs. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck
said: ‘It is an absolute pleasure to welcome Yokohama as our new
Official Shirt Partner and we look forward to a successful
relationship with them.

‘Chelsea and Yokohama are a perfect fit. Both are global
organisations with a focus on performance and innovation, as well
as having huge ambition and an unwavering culture of success.
‘We believe that Yokohama will play a key role in helping us drive
our global expansion in international markets such as the US,
where they have operated with distinction for many years. Also, of
course, Chelsea having such an esteemed and historic Japanese
company as our partner enables us to accelerate our development
in their home market too.

‘We are also looking forward to working with Yokohama on our
community projects around the world through the Chelsea
Foundation, when together we can use the power of sport as a
force for good.

‘I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Samsung, with
whom we have had a successful and rewarding relationship since
2005. Chelsea has demonstrated through that 10-year partnership
that we can play a critical role in helping our partners achieve
their global growth objectives. We look forward to accomplishing
similar success with Yokohama.’