Contemporary football world has entered an era of money. Clubs have to spend tens of millions or even hundreds of millions euros in transfer market. Moreover, a club maybe have to pay hundreds of millions euros just for one player like PSG paid 220 million euros for Neymar. It’s quite incredible to some extent. In addition Some giant clubs spend hundreds of millions of euros in players salary each year. Without enough support of money, it is hard for a team to get good results in this era.
The income of some giant clubs in Europe is also sizable. Their income mainly depend on the specific operations. Clubs mainly rely on tickets selling, TV broadcast fees and business income to achieve profitability. The jersey chest advertisement is one of the sources of large income. Let’s have a look at the top 10 costlest shirt sponsorship deals in European football.
NO. 1: Real Madrid
Although Real Madrid has poor performance this year which has a lot to do with the leaving of their number one star C. Ronaldo, but the success that Real Madrid has achieved in recent years is obvious great. The Whites has won 4 Champions League trophies in last 5 years, and it has achieved an unprecedented 3 consecutive championships win. Real Madrid took the superstar route after Florentillo took power, and made a lot of efforts to build several generations of Galacticos, which has attracted attention of the world.
At the same time, Real Madrid’s business operations are also one of the most successful and profitable in the world. It won’t be surprising that you have to pay the most money to get their chest ads. This season, Real Madrid signed a new contract with Emirates. It lasts for 5 years with a total value of $415 million. This means that this airlines from the UAE need to pay up to $83 million as sponsorship fees to Real Madrid each year.
NO. 2: Manchester United
Manchester United can be said to be the most successful club in business operations. It is also the most commercially valuable club in Europe. Manchester United’s commercial success is inextricably linked to the business operations of the Glazer family in the United States. The Premier League has also been in a leading position in popularity and attention recent years. As a giant Premier League club, Manchester United naturally receives much attention. Under the leadership of the Glazer family, United signed a seven-year long contract worth $559 million with the famous American car company General Motors in 2012. The contract took effect from the 14-15 season. The sponsorship fee for the first year is as high as $70 million and is increasing by 2.1% annually. This year, it has reached a price of 80 million US dollars.
NO. 3: Chelsea
Chelsea also took a money-burning route after the Russian Roman Abramovich became the boss. In just a few years, Chelsea won 4 Premier League titles and 1 Champions League trophy. Their influence also rise up directly and become one of the teams that gains most attention in the world. Now Chelsea’s chest advertising sponsor is Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd. from Japan. The two parties signed a contract for five years in 2015. The contract is with a value of 40 million pounds (about 60m dollars) a year, about 60m dollars. This sponsorship is worth more than twice the £14 million of their previous partner Samsung Electronics.
NO. 4: Barcelona
Barcelona’s gorgeous football style is very popular among fans. Barcelona has also won numerous championships as one of the most successful clubs of the 20th century. The style of tiki taka is unique which once has the strongest dominance in Europe. It is well-known that Barcelona doesn’t have chest ads six years ago. The proud Catalans believe that they cannot sell their chests for money. Since the beginning of the 06-07 season, Barcelona has partnered with UNICEF to put the name “UNICEF” on the chest, which has also broken Barcelona’s centuries-old tradition. However, in this cooperation, Barcelona not only does not charge a sponsorship fee, but instead invests 1.5 million euros a year for UNICEF to develop. This purely charitable act was also praised by people at that time.
However, in 2011, Barcelona announced cooperation with Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways has to spend 33 million euros per year to get the sponsorship of Barcelona’s chest ads. In 2016, Rakuten, an electronic business street group from Japan, became the new chest advertising sponsor of Barcelona. Their cooperation took effect in the 17-18 season. The two sides signed a four-year contract with a total value of 220 millions euros. In addition to a fixed annual fee of 55 million euros, there are also floating fees if Barca win the league and the Champions League. The maximum can reach 61.5 million euros. It was also the most expensive chest advertising sponsor at that time.
NO. 5: Arsenal
Arsenal also comes from the Premier League, and the influence of the Premier League has brought great commercial value to the team. Fans must be impressed by the chest ads. In the past, the big O2 logo is quite impressive. The current Arsenal jersey chest advertising sponsorship is Emirates Airlines from the UAE. Emirates Airlines is now also the largest sponsor in Europe. This company have also sponsored teams such as Real Madrid and PSG. The FlyEmirates logo is also the most common for fans.
The cooperation between Arsenal and Emirates Airlines began in 2006. This year, they renewed their contract for five years which means it will last until the 23-24 season. It has reached $56 million a year.
NO. 6: Manchester City
Manchester City has remained unbeaten in the Premier League under Guardiola’s charge this season, ranking first in the standings. After the enter of the Etihad consortium, the team’s development momentum is quite rapid. The partnership between Manchester City and Etihad Airways has been established for nearly a decade, with a sponsorship fee of $40 million per year. At the same time, Etihad Airways is also the main sponsor of Manchester City, including the jersey, and the title of the home stadium is also Etihad.
NO. 7: Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham’s annual chest advertising sponsorship fee is also $40 million. In 2012, the sponsorship fee AIA given is £16 million. It doesn’t hit $40 million a year until Tottenham and AIA renewed their contract in 2017. AIA Group Limited, known as AIA, is the largest public listed pan-Asian life insurance group.
NO. 8: Liverpool
Liverpool’s style of playing in the past two seasons has been very pleasing. The attack line consisting of Salah, Mane and Fermino made the whole of Europe be afraid. Although letting go of Coutinho, it’s attacking line is still one of the best in Europe. Liverpool is also traditional giant club in the Premier League, with a huge number of fans in the whole world.
Standard Chartered Bank has became the new jersey chest advertising sponsor of Liverpool after Carlsberg. They signed a contract with a value of 40 million US dollars per year, a total of 120 million US dollars in 3 years.
NO. 9: Bayern Munich
The ninth place belongs to the Bundesliga giant Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich is one of the most powerful and influential team in Europe and the world. Although the Bundesliga’s limelight in recent years has been overshadowed by La Liga and the Premier League, it is still undeniable that Bayern is the most powerful club in Europe. Their chest ads were sponsored by the German brand Deutsche Telekom. The sponsorship fee is $33.4 million per year.
NO. 10: Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain is a French team. Although the league is less competitive than the La Liga, Premier League and Bundesliga and receive less attention, PSG is quite rich and gain much support of money especially after being officially acquired by the Qatar consortium. PSG is also not afraid of burning money. They can directly buy Neymar in a unbelievable price of about 222 million euros. This most exoensive transfer has shocked the world. The Parisian giant’s chest sponsor is also Emirates Airlines, with $32 million a year.
The Premier League teams in the list has 5 seats, which shows that the Premier League is the most popular league in the world. Several teams with quite good results in the Premier League have also benefited a lot and received a quite high sponsorship.