Yokohama expands partnership with Chelsea FC

LONDON—Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. has expanded its jersey sponsorship agreement with the English Premier League Champion Chelsea Football Club, reaching a deal to add the recently launched Alliance Tyres brand logo to the team's uniform sleeve.

The new agreement expands YRC's two-year-old partnership with the soccer team that wears jerseys featuring the Yokohama logo across the chest. The agreement, a five-year deal, was signed in 2015.

Terms of the deal extension, for the 2017-18 season, were not disclosed.

"Yokohama Rubber expects the partnership with Chelsea FC...to increase the brand recognition for its Yokohama and Alliance brands by appealing to images associated with the Champions," the tire maker said in a news release.

The new deal is designed to expand brand awareness for the Alliance Tyres name, which will be launched in Europe this year as a consumer tire brand. Yokohama acquired the Alliance Tire Group (ATG), which specializes in off-highway tires, in July 2016.

"By adding the Alliance brand to its Yokohama brand, Yokohama Rubber expects to better meet the needs of a broader and more diverse customer base for passenger vehicle tires," Yokohama said, adding that it is working expand Alliance's business in the agricultural and construction machinery businesses.

Chelsea players debuted the new jerseys, featuring both the Yokohama and Alliance Tyres logos, during the team's pre-season match with Arsenal Football Club in Beijing on July 22.

Founded in 1905, Chelsea FC has won the English Premier League title six times and the FA Cup seven times. Additionally, the team won two UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, took the UEFA Champions League title in 2012, and won the UEFA Europa League in 2013.