Why don’t Inter Milan have a sponsor? Blank shirts in Champions League semi-final explained
For those watching the Champions League semi-final between AC Milan and Inter at San Siro on BT Sport tonight, they may notice the distinct lack of a sponsorâs logo on the front of the latterâs shirts.
Why, you may well ask? Well, itâs all because of an ongoing dispute with shirt sponsor DigitalBits, a cryptocurrency firm that specialises in blockchain and digital assets.
DigitalBits, which describes itself as âthe blockchain for brandsâ, replaced fan-engagement specialists Socios as the clubâs official front-of-shirt sponsor in late 2021.
However, the clubâs published financial results claims that it is still owed a considerable amount of money for the sponsorship deal, which amounts to a total of losses exceeding âŹ24 million (approximately ÂŁ21 million) due in separate instalments in June, October and February respectively.
Why donât Inter Milan have a sponsor on the front of their shirts?
Whatâs more, they now appear to have dropped the companyâs logo from their shirts completely, in apparent response to continued payment issues.
And according to Interâs chief executive Alessandro Antonello, the embattled firm owes the club âaround âŹ17 millionâ (ÂŁ14 million).
He also revealed that the club are currently in the process of finding a replacement sponsor for the struggling blockchain network.
For now, though, it seems that the Italian giants are prepared to do without for the time being at least as they seek to recoup their losses.
â[This] has not yet been paid by the sponsor, for which they have provided reasons that our lawyers deem unfounded,â Antonello said at Interâs latest AGM meeting last October.
âNegotiations are currently underway to find a friendly resolution to the dispute. At present, it is not possible to predict whether these negotiations will be successful or not. If it is not possible to reach an agreement, the club will consider taking legal action to protect our interests.
âThe club has already taken all the necessary actions on the market, initiating several discussions to find a possible new shirt partner through its own commercial structure so that the new partner can take over as soon as possible.â
Now, itâs worth mentioning that Inter arenât the only club affected by this recent turn of events, as Serie A rivals Roma also find themselves in a similar sort of predicament.
In fact, after Interâs issues with DigitalBits were made public, Roma also decided to suspend their agreement as well as a result.