Atletico Madrid is reportedly planning a lawsuit against WhaleFin over failed payments from a previous sponsorship deal.
The La Liga club is looking to recoup €20m worth of compensation after Atletico revealed it is owed €40m from the cryptocurrency exchange.
WhaleFin signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Atletico ahead of the 2022-23 La Liga season with the crypto company becoming one of the club’s main sponsors.
However, due to the turbulence experienced in the crypto market towards the end of 2022, – ignited by the collapse of FXT – WhaleFin’s parent company. Amber Group revealed the company suffered financial difficulties.
With the crypto market spiralling and the market crashing, WhaleFin terminated its sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC early, ending a deal that was worth a reported $25m.
The crypto exchange’s sponsorship deal with Atletico was also cut short last summer, as it was replaced as the club’s main sponsor with Riyadh Air.
Now, Atletico is seeking to recover sponsorship revenue it believes it is owed as non-payments detailed in its previous contract with WhaleFin apparently breaching terms.
However, this is not the first instance of a European football club seeking repayments from a failed sponsorship deal with a crypto company.
Inter Milan and Roma have both issued complaints on monetary return over previous sponsorship deals with DigitalBits, seeking $17m and $12m repayments respectively.
