Chelsea have ended their search for a front-of-shirt sponsor by agreeing a one-year deal with internet financial platform company Circle.

The club has been in talks with the American-based firm for several months and while the size of the investment remains undisclosed, sources have told The Athletic it is the going rate for a top Premier League club. Chelsea were looking in the region of £50-60million ($67.9m-$81.5m) a year.

While the initial contract is for the remainder of the season, there is an option to extend it for longer included in the agreement, according to club sources.

USDC will now be displayed on the front of the men’s, women’s and academy shirts in all competitions from now on, starting with the matches this weekend. That means it will be seen for the first time at Chelsea men’s Premier League game at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.

USDC, according to its website, “is a stablecoin issued by Circle, fully reserved by cash and cash equivalents for 1:1 redeemability with US dollars. It enables fast, low-cost, and accessible global transactions via blockchain technology.” It stands for “US Dollar Coin”.

The sponsorship will give another boost to the club’s financial figures, although Chelsea’s number of global partners has already been on the increase.

Jason Gannon, President and Chief Operating Officer at Chelsea, led the process. He said in a club release on Friday: ‘This partnership with Circle positions Chelsea at the forefront of football’s digital evolution.

“We are two organisations fixated by the future and are relentlessly innovating to be in the best position possible for the long-term. We look forward to beginning our journey with Circle — to introduce Circle to the Chelsea family and continue enhancing how we operate.”

A long time coming – but questions over short-term deal

This has been a long time in the making and could be regarded as a case of better late than never.

Chelsea’s search for a front-of-shirt sponsor has been an ongoing process since the arrangement with UK network provider Three ended in 2023.

They found a partnership with Infinite Athlete for 2023-24, albeit it was put in place after the campaign had already begun.

There were short-term deals late in the season for Damac Properties (2024-25) and Industrial AI company IFS (2025-26) respectively but the agreement with Circle has the potential to be the first long-term front-of-shirt sponsor since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over in May 2022.

Sources have told The Athletic that Circle emerged as a leading contender by May but it has taken a lot more discussions to get to this point with other companies in the fray. Chelsea have always maintained that it was not just about price but wanting to find the right partner.

The lack of a front-of-shirt sponsor has been a major talking point among supporters, who may still question why something has not been put in place for several years rather than an initial agreement for the rest of the season.

Richard Thompson has spoken of his “enormous disappointment” at the poor behaviour that has led to eight England men’s players being caught up in off-field incidents in the last year.

Thompson, chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), is frustrated that indiscipline away from the cricket field has led to reputational damage for the English game and allegations of a drinking culture within the men’s squad.

The latest incident saw Brydon Carse pictured in handcuffs in the early hours of Sunday morning outside a nightclub in Derby after celebrating Durham’s victory against Derbyshire which has led to a Cricket Regulator investigation. Carse was briefly arrested at the scene but later de-arrested. Derbyshire Police have since confirmed they are looking into allegations of an assault in Derby city centre, though did not state whether they are investigating Carse.

It follows a turbulent spell for England as much off the field as on it which has also seen centrally-contracted players in Ben Stokes, who retired during the third Test defeat against New Zealand, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Josh Tongue, Ben Duckett, Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts all involved in alcohol-related incidents.

“I have to be careful what I say because the Cricket Regulator is involved with a recent event … but when you play for your country, you are judged by a far higher standard,” said Thompson, speaking to Mike Atherton on Sky Sports at Lord’s ahead of the second day of the second Test against Pakistan.

“What comes with wearing those three lions is respect, responsibility and pride. Unless you live and breathe those three qualities then there’s a problem. It’s enormously disappointing (that England’s professionalism has come under such scrutiny).”

Thompson paid tribute to England captain Joe Root, whom he played a big role in persuading to take on the role for a second time when Stokes quit both the captaincy and international cricket following a night out in Chelsea and a series defeat to New Zealand.

“I don’t think anyone could have summed it up better than Joe did earlier this week,” said Thompson of Root’s pre-second Test media conference when the captain said he was “seriously hacked off that we keep on doing stupid things”. “Every player, and I think Joe articulated this brilliantly, has to understand the responsibility that comes with playing for England.”

Brydon Carse in practice with England at Headingley ahead of the first Test against Pakistan (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

England’s record on the field has been just as disturbing and Thompson was asked why more immediate action was not taken after the 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia last winter.

Stokes, coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key all kept their jobs but now, eight months on, Key is the last man of the trio standing and a new coach in Stephen Fleming arrives next month to take charge ahead of the tour of South Africa in December.

“We all wanted to be very considered about that,” said the former Surrey chair. “When you lose 4-1 the expectation is that heads are going to roll. That’s what has always happened before. The reality is every time you lose the Ashes a number of people lose their jobs.

“You learn nothing from it. You never get the chance to understand what those lessons were and put them right.

“We also, within days of the Ashes finishing, were going into a Sri Lanka white-ball tour and then a World Cup which involved the same coaching group, the same players.

“And the T20 World Cup was an important one in which we narrowly lost in the semi-final to India. So we wanted to be measured and we felt there were lessons that could have been and should have been learned. But the way this season has played out off the field…”

Three of the most significant basketball cards of the current era, including the one-of-a-kind Cooper Flagg Rookie Debut Patch Autograph card, will be auctioned through Fanatics Collect next month, the company announced Friday.

With the Flagg item, Debut Patch cards for San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper and Charlotte Hornets sharpshooter Kon Knueppel will also sell as part of the platform’s September Premier auction, which runs Sept. 10-24.

Each autographed card, which also includes a patch created by Fanatics and worn during the athlete’s first NBA regular-season appearance, is widely considered the best card for each featured athlete.

Flagg’s Debut Patch, which has been the target of dozens of bounties, including offers from the Dallas Mavericks and multi-million-dollar cash offers from individual collectors, is widely expected to challenge the highest known sale for an ultra-modern (2017-present) basketball card. The current high is the $5.1 million paid in a private deal for the one-of-one 2023-24 Prizm Black parallel Victor Wembanyama rookie card in May.

Until now, the secondary market for Debut Patch cards has largely been dominated by baseball players, as the program was first launched with MLB, though it now also includes the NFL, World Cup, Bundesliga, Formula 1, MLS, UFC and WWE.

The first Debut Patches for basketball, which arrived for the 2025 NBA Draft class, are expected to drive some of the program’s highest sales because of the sport’s popularity in the high-end market.

Of the top 20 all-time modern card sales logged by card price tracker Card Ladder, 12 are basketball cards. The highest public sale for a debut patch from any sport to date is the $1.1 million paid for the Paul Skenes card by Dick’s Sporting Goods in March 2025, which could be topped by each of the cards of Flagg, Harper and Knueppel in a single night.

“I think basketball is more part of pop culture,” Fanatics Collect vice president Kevin Lenane told The Athletic. “You see more kids with basketball jerseys. There’s more interest in LeBron (James) and (Michael) Jordan. The intertwining (of pop culture) with basketball in particular seems to be the strongest.”

The consignment of the Flagg Debut Patch to Fanatics Collect ends the hunt not just to pull the card, but to win the rights to sell it.

The Mavericks were among the first to offer a bounty before the card was even pulled. The team included a pair of premium, lower-level season tickets for 32 years (Flagg’s jersey number), an autographed, game-worn rookie Flagg jersey and several other team-related experiences. Several individual collectors and trading card-related businesses offered multi-million cash bounties.

The Mavericks bounty is the second from a major sports team to be turned down by a Debut Patch owner. The Pittsburgh Pirates made an offer for the Skenes debut patch last year that included season tickets and team experiences, but the card’s 11-year-old owner turned it down. The child and his family, California natives, chose to consign the card with Fanatics Collect instead of taking the Pirates’ package.

The Flagg Debut Patch card was pulled on Aug. 10, just four days after the release of the set it’s a part of, 2025-26 Topps Chrome Updates Basketball, during a box break run by a small Rhode Island hobby shop. The card’s new owner, Jason Williams of South Carolina, chose to consign it with Fanatics over the other offers.

Williams was not available to speak to The Athletic about his decision to consign the card with Fanatics Collect, but in an Instagram post he said, “This is more than just a dollar sign. This means a lot more to me & my family than anyone could imagine. Truly thankful and blessed!”

Jason Williams (center, in the Indiana Fever shirt) with his family and the Cooper Flagg Debut Patch redemption card. (Photo courtesy of Parker J. Asel)

“Someone would need to be from Dallas or from Pittsburgh to understand the value of (the team) offers, or to at least appreciate them,” Lenane said. “… If a Mavs fan hits the Flagg, I think then you have a real conversation. But outside of that, I think it’s tough for a guy from South Carolina to be into the Mavericks or a kid from L.A. to be into the Pirates.”

Beyond bounties from the Mavericks or other collectors, Fanatics Collect beat out offers from other auction houses, including Goldin Auctions. Goldin founder and CEO Ken Goldin offered a $1.5 million cash advance if the card was consigned to his auction house.

Trading card marketplace Alt attempted to lure the Flagg card to its platform by opening a “Debut Bounty Auction,” where it accepted binding bids for the card before it was consigned anywhere.

According to Alt, bids would carry over if the card was consigned to the platform or voided in any other scenario. Bidding had reached $3.8 million for the Flagg Debut Patch before Alt closed the auction on Wednesday.

As of Thursday evening, the bounty auction for the Harper Debut Patch card was at $800,000 before buyer’s premium (the fee an auction house charges based on the item’s sale price).

“It did exactly what we built it to do,” Alt CEO Leore Avidar said about the bounty auction concept in a statement to The Athletic. “We had nine verified bidders in the first two hours, and the bounty bids reached $3.84 million, every dollar of it binding. This card had never traded, and now the whole hobby knows what it’s worth. Wherever it sells next, it sells at a number our bounty auction discovered first.

“The card not coming to (Alt) was always a possible outcome, and we designed for that. The bids expire, nobody owes anything and the demand doesn’t go anywhere. We couldn’t be more excited about where this goes … the next time a grail gets pulled, the market bidding is going to open on Alt.”

Lenane believes Fanatics Collect earned the right to sell the card by showing up in person when it was first discovered.

“We physically went to the shop, that’s how we won the card,” Lenane said. “I took a boat from Long Island to Connecticut and took an Uber across from Connecticut to Rhode Island at 6 a.m. to get to the shop nine hours after the card was hit. I talked to the collector through the shop’s landline because he wouldn’t give out his phone number.

“Everyone else was running through Instagram messages and posting bounties and stuff, and we had two people in that shop. Another guy took a red-eye (flight) from L.A. and got there two hours after me. That’s why we got it.”

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