Atletico Madrid, a renowned Spanish football club, has initiated legal proceedings against WhaleFin, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, for an alleged breach of a sponsorship agreement. The conflict arises from a five-year sponsorship deal that Atletico Madrid entered into with WhaleFin ahead of the 2022/23 season.
The agreement, which was significant for both the sports and crypto industries, has now become a point of contention, with Atletico Madrid claiming WhaleFin failed to meet its payment obligations of €40 million ($44 million). The club is seeking €20 million ($22 million) in compensation for this breach.
The legal action taken by Atletico Madrid against WhaleFin is part of a broader narrative of challenges and uncertainties facing cryptocurrency sponsorships in football. WhaleFin’s parent company, Amber Group, also faced difficulties in this arena. According to a Bloomberg report, Amber Group terminated a $25 million sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC.
This deal announced only seven months prior, involved showcasing the WhaleFin trading platform logo on Chelsea’s team shirts for the 2022/2023 season. The decision to cut ties with Chelsea and reduce its workforce came amid a downturn in the crypto market, which saw the collapse of major firms like FTX, BlockFi, and Celsius Network.
Furthermore, earlier this year, Italian football clubs Roma and Inter Milan suspended their agreements with DigitalBits, a blockchain firm. DigitalBits, which had become the main shirt sponsor for both clubs, failed to fulfill its financial commitments, leading Inter Milan to remove the firm’s branding from their shirts and advertising at San Siro.
In response, the Digitalbits Foundation stated that it was undergoing a process to redefine partnerships that align with its goals of economic sustainability and blockchain technology promotion. The sponsorship contracts with Roma and Inter were concluded with Zytara Labs, with the Digitalbits Foundation focusing on promoting blockchain technology within its community and ecosystem.
However, not all football-crypto partnerships have encountered difficulties. In a contrasting example, Dunamu, a South Korean fintech company behind the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, successfully became the jersey sponsor of the Italian football team Napoli SSC. The Upbit logo is featured on the back of Napoli jerseys for all matches, including Coppa Italia and Serie A games. Additionally, Dunamu’s branding is prominently displayed on advertising boards around the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy, as part of the sponsorship agreement.
