Chelsea agree whopping £300m kit deal with sportswear giants adidas



Chelsea have signed the biggest shirt deal in the history of the Barclays Premier League after agreeing a 10-year contract worth £300million with adidas.

Details emerged yesterday of the incredible package put together to bind together Chelsea and the German kit giant.

Bright white: Chelsea's new away kit is partly in homage to the white kits of the 1960s

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VIDEO: Chelsea stars model their new away kit





Although most of the financial aspects of the deal are dependent on Chelsea winning important silverware, the contract is significantly higher than the commercial agreement between reigning champions Manchester United and Nike.

The allure of Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge, along with the existing, long-term partnership between Chelsea and adidas helped to structure the deal.

It is the biggest of its kind in the United Kingdom but, while it is bigger in total than adidas’s deal with Real Madrid and Nike’s package to supply Barcelona’s kit, it falls short of the £31m a year Real command.

Chelsea’s negotiating power has been strengthened by their increasing supporter base around the world after their Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich in 2012. They have huge support in north Africa and the United States, something that proved to be a huge bargaining chip for the club in their negotiations.

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay and Herbert Hainer, of adidas, have been discussing the deal for months. They finally confirmed the new agreement yesterday.

It is significantly more than the £18m-a-season deal signed last year for Samsung to have their name on the shirt.

Chelsea are becoming increasingly aware of the potential constraints of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations and are looking at other ways of exploiting their brand.

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