Three and Hyundai suspended their deals with the Londoners.
Chelsea’s shirt still carried the logos of Three and Hyundai during the Blues’ match against Newcastle United on Sunday, despite the two sponsors suspending their respective deals with the club earlier this week.
The London club’s main sponsor Three terminated its £40m sponsorship deal with Chelsea with immediate effect following sanctions imposed on club owner Roman Abramovich by the UK government on Thursday.
The telecommunications company have been Chelsea’s official shirt partner since January 2020, with their logo appearing on the front of all Chelsea shirts – including the Women’s team and Academy sides – from the start of the 2020/21 campaign.
Hyundai – who are the club’s shirt-sleeve sponsors – followed suit and also announced that they had suspended their sponsorship deal with the Blues, with the automotive manufacturer suspending its marketing and communication activities with the club until further notice. A statement read:
“In the current circumstances, we have taken the decision to suspend our marketing and communication activities with the club until further notice.”
‘No immediate plans to remove logos’
However, despite the two sponsors ending their agreements with Chelsea and asking for their logos to be removed, both of the company’s respective logos could be seen on the Blues’ home shirt during the Premier League clash against Newcastle.
As reported by i, the reigning European champions is still in talks with Three, however, there were no immediate plans to remove the logo for Sunday’s game against the Magpies, given that it was unclear how it would be changed in time.
The logos of Three and Hyundai are still on the Chelsea kits, Zapp branding still visible at Stamford Bridge. All three have suspended their deals with the club.
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) March 13, 2022
Football.london add that because Chelsea do not have any stock of shirts without the logos, and are currently unable to order more after Abramovich was sanctioned, they needed to wear the shirts with Three’s logo on.
