Chelsea have landed the second-largest shirt sponsorship deal in English football history with Yokohama Rubber.
It is understood the Yokohama agreement is worth almost £40m-a-year, which will push Chelsea ahead of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City in the shirt sponsorship table.
This places Chelsea right at the top of European football, with one of the biggest shirt sponsorships ever signed. Only Manchester United have a more lucrative deal, having netted £53m-a-year from Chevrolet.
The new shirt sponsorship with Yokohama is more than double the previous £18m agreement with Samsung that was last extended in 2012 andis seen within Stamford Bridge as a significant success for Christian Purslow, who was appointed to run Chelsea’s global activities in October last year.Chelsea had been in talks with Turkish Airlines, but they withdrew their interest in a sponsorship deal at Christmas after being put off by the figures involved.
Yokohama worldwide has a business network spanning over 100 countries, including the US, Japan China and Australia, and the company already has sponsorship deals with NBA teams the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs.