Club Atlético de Madrid: Riyadh Air (airline) main shirt sponsor from 2023-24 (€40m/year)

Riyadh Air, a Saudi Arabian airline owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has become the main shirt sponsor of Club Atlético de Madrid (LaLiga EA Sports) as part of a "multi-year agreement" from the 2023-24 season, announced the club on 10/08/2023. The agreement, which covers only the Spanish club's men's team, is the first sports sponsorship deal for the Saudi Arabian company, which was founded in March 2023 and will make its first flight in 2025.

The company succeeds cryptocurrency trading platform WhaleFin (Amber Group, SGP), which was featured on the front of Atlético's shirts in 2022-23 for an estimated €42m (almost triple the amount paid by Plus500 for the same space in the 2015-2022 cycle; €15m per season). The value of Riyadh Air's agreement with Madrid is estimated at a similar €40m per year, making it the third most lucrative main shirt sponsorship deal in the Spanish league, and the 10^th most lucrative in the European Top 5 in 2023-24.

WhaleFin has reportedly asserted a clause in its contract with Atlético de Madrid, which initially ran until 2024-25, providing for…