Inter Milan took a giant step towards the Champions League final after winning the first leg of their Milan derby semi-final 2-0, however, doing so without a shirt sponsor. The Nerazzurri got off to a flying start with goals from Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan just 11 minutes, startling rivals AC Milan and everyone inside the San Siro.
Furthermore, Inter Milan were awarded a penalty before Stefano Pioli’s side could get their bearings, which was overturned by referee Jesus Gil after a VAR assessment in dubious circumstances. One of the other major takeaways from the Milan derby was the absence of a sponsor on the shirts of the visitors, which baffled fans.
Absence of shirt sponsor for Inter Milan explained
In one of the most exciting and ferocious rivalries in club football, Inter Milan clashed against AC Milan in the Champions League semi-finals at San Siro. The iconic red and black stripes squared up against the blue and black for the first time in a European game between the two since AC Milan won in 2005.
Inter Milan, however, did so without a sponsor on their shirts, after it was revealed that the company with which they had a contract did not meet their end of the bargain. Despite signing a €85 million (£75 million/$94 million) contract in September 2021, Inter has received no money from shirt sponsor DigitalBits this season.
Inter’s business chief executive, Alessandro Antonello, acknowledged the club’s search for a replacement sponsor in November. They further claimed that DigitalBits owes them approximately €17 million. The Nerazzurri have opted to remove the logo from their shirt entirely as a result of not receiving the payment. Antonello said this at the club’s most recent AGM:
“[This] has not yet been paid by the sponsor, for which they have provided reasons that our lawyers deem unfounded. Negotiations 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.
“The 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.”
The same issue arose with AS Roma, who had also utilised the same business as their primary jersey partner, resulting in both clubs discontinuing usage of the emblem in April of this year. Inter Milan also released a statement saying:
“We understand that the crisis in the cryptocurrency sector, which worsened during the second quarter of the year 2022, significantly affected the ability of the client to fulfil its obligations.
“We are reserving all the actions and remedies to protect our contractual interests and rights and, in the meantime, we removed the logos of the partner from our website, billboards and jerseys of the youth and women’s sector teams, while retaining, at the moment, the presence of the sponsor on the jersey of the first team.”
DigitalBits has responded by stating that they are “taking a proactive process for the redefinition of partnerships,” blaming the missed payments on financial technology company Zytara, which was supposedly in charge of negotiating their sponsorship deals. Last month, Inter Milan played without a sponsor for the first time against Lazio. They will most likely be without a sponsor when they host AC Milan in the second leg.