Chelsea Football Club has named Circle Internet Group as its new principal partner and front-of-shirt sponsor from the 2026/27 season, bringing the USDC stablecoin brand onto the club’s men’s, women’s and academy shirts.
The deal places Circle, one of the most prominent companies in digital payments and stablecoins, on one of football’s most visible commercial platforms as crypto-linked firms continue to push deeper into mainstream sports sponsorship.
Chelsea said the branding will debut on the men’s first-team shirt at the club’s Premier League home match against Brighton on Sunday, before appearing across the wider club setup during the season.
Circle brings USDC to Chelsea’s global audience
Founded in 2013, Circle is widely known as the issuer of USDC, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin used for payments, trading and transfers across blockchain networks, with transactions available around the clock.
Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said the Chelsea partnership connects the company with a global sports audience that reflects its own ambition to build borderless financial infrastructure.
For Chelsea, the agreement gives the club another high-profile commercial partner at a time when football teams are increasingly working with fintech and digital-asset companies to expand international reach and revenue.
Circle expands beyond finance with Chelsea sponsorship
The Chelsea deal marks Circle’s first major move into professional sports sponsorship, taking the USDC issuer beyond its usual financial and technology partnerships and into one of football’s most visible commercial platforms.
Chelsea President Jason Gannon said the deal places the club at the forefront of football’s digital evolution, while Chelsea Women CEO Aki Mandhar highlighted the opportunity to introduce USDC to the club’s growing women’s fanbase.
The partnership also gives Circle a route into one of the sport’s most commercially valuable global audiences, with Chelsea using the deal to tie its broader digital strategy to a company focused on blockchain-based payments and internet-native finance.
Circle joins a growing list of Chelsea crypto partners
Chelsea’s ties to the digital-asset sector stretch back to 2022, when the club signed Amber Group as its first digital-asset partner and placed WhaleFin branding on the sleeves of its men’s and women’s teams.
That was followed by a partnership with crypto exchange BingX in the 2023/24 season, first as a men’s sleeve sponsor before expanding into training wear and later extending into the 2026/27 campaign.
In 2025, Chelsea also added crypto casino Roobet as a regional betting partner in Latin America and Canada, further broadening the club’s commercial links to crypto and blockchain-related businesses.
