Chelsea announce Three UK as new shirt sponsor

This morning, Chelsea broke the news that Yokohama (Tires/Tyres) will no longer be the shirt sponsor for next season, confirming the end of the 5-year, £200m partnership that began in 2015.

Just a few hours after, the club already announced Yokohama’s replacement, and thankfully it’s not a betting company.

Chelsea have agreed a 3-year deal with mobile service provider Three UK, who will sponsor both the men’s and women’s teams (as well as the youth outfits for both). While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, most reports “expect” to be worth at least £40m/year, so in line with the previous deal and with most of the rest of the top teams in the Premier League (Manchester City earn about £45m from Etihad (above books), while Manchester United still have their silly £53m deal with Chevy).

It’s our first telecommunications-related sponsorship since Samsung Mobile from 2005-2008 (before switching to just Samsung).

The announcement was not accompanied by how the Three UK logo might look on the shirt, but when they sponsored the Ireland team, it looked a little something like this:

Photo by Sergio Lopez/NurPhoto via Getty Images