Premier League
Chelsea kept the sponsors in shirt while Sky Sports hid them in the broadcast of the game against Newcastle
Surreal scenes played out during Chelsea – Newcastle, with the Blues keeping the logos of three sponsors on their shirts despite ending their collaboration, and Sky Sports ‘cropping’ them when presenting the Londoners.
The severe sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich by the UK government have put Chelsea in an extremely precarious position as not only has the sale of the club been frozen but so far it has been unable to buy, sell or renew its footballers.
As if that wasn’t enough, the west London team saw their sponsors leave one by one, with three of them, Three, Hyundai and Zapp, trying to freeze their deals with Chelsea until further notice in Ukraine.
The three companies even asked to have their names removed from both the jerseys and the stadium, but their requests were not heeded as the Three and Hyundai emblems are still on Chelsea’s performances and Zapp’s emblem is at Stamford Bridge featured in the game against Newcastle.
What is striking, however, is that the TV channel Sky Sports, unlike Chelsea, did not give in to the Blues and removed the sponsors from the jersey when presenting the Blues team at the beginning of the game.
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.