Nike and Chelsea are selling the shirt in several countries, including some in which the app is not currently available, which renders the connectivity aspect somewhat useless in those locales. However, fans of the Blues in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain can use the app to access the content if they buy the shirt.

The jersey, which follows similar efforts with NBA replica shirts, is certainly gimmicky. Yet such tech could provide a way to verify merchandise is authentic and even help identify and recover stolen goods.