RANKED: The 11 Most Lucrative Shirt Sponsor Deals in Football - Barca x Spotify 3rd
Trusted German publication Sponsors have compiled a graph showing the 11 most valuable shirt sponsorship deals in football, as of the 22-23 season.
Top 10 Main Shirt Sponsor Deals - As of March 2022
Most Valuable Shirt Sponsorship Deal - Real Madrid - €70 Million/Season
As shown on the graph above, Real Madrid’s deal with airline company Emirates tops the list, bringing in €70 million a season. The Fly Emirates logo started appearing on Madrid’s shirts in the 13-14 season, coinciding with the beginning of the club’s amazing run of four Champions League titles in five years. This success, coupled with the Cristiano Ronaldo era at Madrid generated great publicity for Emirates, who must be quite satisfied with their investment.
2nd - PSG - €65 Million/Season
In second place is PSG’s deal with Accor, which is worth €65 million a year for the club. The company’s “ALL” logo replaced that of Emirates on the Parisians’ jerseys in 2019, and has since featured on the much-hyped Jordan x PSG kits which reached an audience beyond the world of football fans.
3rd - Barcelona - €57.5 Million/Season
Spotify’s new deal with Barcelona comes in third at €57.5 million a year, with part of that figure covering the naming rights of the newly christened Spotify Camp Nou. One of the more interesting deals in recent years, as the space on Barca's shirts will feature different logos over the course of the deal. The deal couldn’t have come at a better time for Barcelona, who were in dire financial straits earlier this season, but now seem to be exiting that particular crisis.
Joint 4th - Manchester United and Manchester City - €55 Million/Season
Manchester United are not capable of competing with Manchester City on the football pitch at the moment, but the money-loving United board will be pleased to be on financial parity with their rivals when it comes to shirt sponsorship. United’s deal with TeamViewer and City’s deal with Etihad are both worth €55 million a season to their respective clubs.
Joint 6th - Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool (and Chelsea?) - €47.5 Million/Season
Arsenal (Emirates), Liverpool (Standard Chartered) and Tottenham (AIA) all earn €47.5 million a season from their agreements, while Chelsea would have been tied with their Premier League peers had Three not suspended their partnership with the Blues in the wake of government sanctions against Roman Abramovich. The club are currently barred from generating any income so it remains to be seen what their sponsor situation will be come the start of the 22-23 season.
Joint 10th - Bayern Munich and Juventus - €45 Million/Season
German and Italian heavyweights Bayern Munich and Juventus round off the table, each earning €45 million a year from Deutsche Telekom and Jeep respectively, with the Agnelli family ties proving useful for Juventus here. Jeep is owned by Fiat, which is in turn owned by the Agnellis. Good publicity for both companies here over the last 10 years or so, being associated with serial title winners of the Bundesliga and Serie A during that period.
Are you surprised by any of the inclusions on the list? Comment below.
