In 2025, the Premier League signed a league-wide partnership agreement with Microsoft, integrating its cloud and AI tech. Specifically, it led to the creation of the Premier League Companion tool, a one-stop shop for all the stats and stories from over 30 years of football. Now Chelsea Football Club has inked its own partnership with IFS, bringing industrial AI to their off-pitch operations.
The Chelsea FC x IFS Partnership
IFS is a global leader in industrial AI, a field concerned with process automation and resource optimisation. Per Chelsea’s partnership starting in 2026, the first phase will revolve around automating the finance and procurement needs of the club. Put simply, it’ll make it easier and faster for club managers to process invoices, budget appropriately and renew supplier contracts.
That’s just the first of several phases, the details of which are scant. In their own partnership announcement, IFS added that the next phase will move onto Stamford Bridge itself. This will likely mean facility operations management, like using AI to track and replace failing lighting before matchdays, or optimising energy usage to run the stadium more cost-efficiently.
Speaking about the partnership, Chelsea Chief Financial Officer Adriel Lares said: “Advanced technology is transforming the way businesses operate and we are excited to be moving into the next phase of our partnership with IFS to realise the opportunities AI software presents.”
Other AI Developments in the Premier League
Chelsea’s new partnership isn’t the first time AI has collaborated with the Premier League and its clubs. When most think of AI in football, they’re more likely to think of matchday AI where cameras track gameplay and contribute to referee decisions. It’s called semi-automated offside technology, and it works by creating and tracking a ‘digital twin’ of the player. By tracking that digital representation of players, it can cut VAR review times when something is in doubt or contention.
AI is also used extensively by other clubs in coaching, scouting and strategising. Liverpool FC have their own partnership with Google DeepMind, specifically their TacticAI product, which can identify patterns in rival player teams and strategise accordingly. More recently, other clubs like Crystal Palace and Fulham have made AI-powered companies their most prominent sponsors, inking deals with AI workflow platform Temporal and AI data analytics company ClickHouse respectively.
More broadly, football has crossed paths with other sectors using AI. While many Premier League teams are sponsored by tech and finance firms leveraging AI, football is also a prominent theme in online entertainment. iGaming is the biggest example of this, where there are many slots based on tournaments like the World Cup, or sometimes bearing the likeness of the occasional retired footballer. The influence of AI reaches deep into this sector too, with AI-powered game recommendations helping players find online casino games best suited to their interests.
As AI continues to provide use cases in and around professional football, we can expect more clubs to welcome AI-led businesses onto their shirts. Finance and fintech are dominant right now amid sponsorships, but the 2026/27 will introduce a contract reset period where a raft of new sponsors will come in. If Chelsea’s recent moves are any indication, AI may become the new ‘theme’ of League sponsors.
