Football clubs need to generate a lot of revenue for sustainability and to expand their brand. Clubs rake in incomes from various means like ticket sales, TV rights, player transfers, competitions, trophies, and most especially, sponsorships.
Sponsors come in different forms like stadium naming rights, training kits, technology/gadgets, beverages, transportation, and shirt deals.
One of the main ways that football clubs generate revenue is through shirt sponsorship deals.
These deals involve a company paying to have their logo featured on a team’s shirt, which can generate significant exposure for the brand.
Although shirt deals vary according to the size, popularity, and commerciality of clubs, the elite clubs always attract the biggest shirt sponsors.
In this post, TOP SOCCER BLOG brings you the top 10 football shirt sponsorship deals in Europe in 2023.
Top 10 Most Lucrative Football Shirt Sponsorship Deals in Europe 2023
The following are the estimated current prices of the annual fee of the shirt sponsorship deal of football clubs.
1. Real Madrid (Fly Emirates — €70m)
Real Madrid is one of the biggest clubs in the world and have great commercial value and brand identity. They are one of the football clubs with the most trophies in the world.
It’s not surprising that they have the most expensive shirt sponsorship deal in the world.
Madrid have been donning the Fly Emirates on their shirt since 2013. It is part of their lucrative contract with Emirates Airlines.
The deal is worth about €70m per season, and the union has been successful as Madrid have dominated European football in that period, winning 5 UEFA Champions League titles.
2. PSG (Qatar Airways — €65m)
Qatari state-owned PSG have a lot of lucrative sponsorship deals, however, there shirt sponsorship deal is with Qatar Airways.
On June 29 2022, PSG announced Qatar Airways had become the new official front-jersey sponsor of the Parisian club, starting with the 2022/23 football season.
This sponsorship marked new phase in the relationship between the French capital club and the leading global airline.
It was reported that Qatar Airways paid €65 million per year for this deal.
In April 2022, PSG also revealed their new kit partner as GOAT. The sneaker and apparel marketplace’s logo is set to appear on the left sleeve of the team’s jerseys, which will be worn by their star-studded roster.
3. Barcelona (Spotify — €57.5m)
Barcelona, who have been battling a financial crisis, finally landed a lucrative shirt sponsorship deal with music streaming giant Spotify.
The deal also includes numerous pacts, but the most notable is the renaming of Barca’s iconic stadium to Spotify Camp Nou.
The Blaugrana’s shirt deal will see them earn €57.5m a season.
The Barcelona-Spotify shirt deal is a unique and innovative partnership that showcases the changing landscape of football sponsorship and highlights the importance of music and entertainment in the world of football.
As part of their sponsorship deal with Spotify, Barcelona started featuring certain artists on their shirt, as was the case with Drake in the first El Clasico of the 2022/23 season.
In the last El Clasico on March 2023, Barcelona used a second special edition shirt for El Clasico, with Catalan pop star Rosalia’s three butterflies, the logo of her Motomami album featured on their shirt.
4. Manchester United (TeamViewer — €55m)
After their contract with Chevrolet ended in 2021, Manchester United announced a new €55m shirt sponsorship deal with TeamViewer — which is currently the most expensive deal in the Premier League.
TeamViewer is a German-based technology company founded in 2005.
It produces software that is downloaded to allow remote control and maintenance of computers and other devices and has been installed on over two billion devices.
Manchester United have started to rediscover their form under Erik Ten Hag and recently won the Carabao Cup.
5. Manchester City (Etihad — €55m)
Manchester City’s major sponsor is Etihad Airways, which is also owned by the Abu Dhabi owners of City.
Manchester City emerged as a footballing powerhouse after they were bought by Dubai owners. They also have secured a very high profile sponsorship deal during that time.
In a partnership which began in 2015, City earns €55 million each season from Etihad Airways, and the lucrative sponsorship deal even saw the airline giant acquire the naming rights for Manchester City’s stadium. They are the second football club with the most expensive shirt sponsorship deal in the Premier League
Etihad’s deal with Man City has always been a subject of controversy as critics believe that the figures are regularly inflated. The deal is worth €55m per season.
6. Arsenal (Fly Emirates — €47.5m)
Arsenal’s partnership with Emirates Airlines goes a long way back as the airline company majorly financed the construction of the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners have Fly Emirates branded on their shirts.
The deal is worth €47.5m per season.
The North London club is one of the best soccer teams in the world right now. Mikel Arteta has transformed the squad to genuine Premier League title contenders.
7. Chelsea (Three — €47.5m)
After the expiration of Chelsea’s shirt sponsorship contract with Yokohama, the Blues signed a new deal with the mobile phone company, Three — worth €47.5m per season.
Back in March, Three confirmed their temporary suspension of the deal and asked for their logo to be removed from Chelsea kits following the sanctioning of former owner Roman Abramovich for his links to Russia and Vladimir Putin as a result of the war in Ukraine.
After the new takeover by Todd Boehly, both Chelsea and Three agreed to continue with the deal.
8. Liverpool (Standard Chartered — €47.5m)
British multinational bank, Standard Chartered, has been Liverpool’s official shirt sponsor since 2010.
Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational banking and financial services company based in London, England. Although its headquarters are in London; it has over 1,200 branches and outlets across more than 70 countries.
They saw Liverpool through the dark days, and the Reds have been equally faithful in their successful period.
The deal is worth €47.5m per season.
9. Tottenham (AIA — €47.5m)
Life insurance company, AIA, has been Spurs’ shirt sponsors since 2013. The deal was extended in 2019 till 2027.
In the period of partnership, Tottenham have established themselves among the top teams in England and in Europe — reaching the UEFA Champions League final in 2019 and also built a modern world-class stadium.
The deal is worth about €47.5m per season.
10. Bayern Munich (T-Mobile —€45m)
Mobile phone company, T-Mobile, has served as the shirt sponsor for German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich since 2002.
The current deal sees Bayern earn about €45m per season.
10. Juventus (Jeep — €45m)
Tied in number 10 in the list of the top 10 football shirt sponsorship deals in Europe with Bayern Munich, are Serie A giants Juventus.
Italian-American Automobile company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), is the main sponsor of Juventus.
The company, which provides different types of cars, has owned of its subsidiaries, Jeep, branded on Juve’s shirt.
The shirt deal sees the Old Lady rake in €45m per season.
Both Juventus and Fiat are owned Exor Group of companies, which are run by the Agnelli family.
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