From Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea to Manchester City, Arsenal, Argentina and Portugal, UAE real estate developers are building increasingly visible relationships with global football institutions.
Football may be played on pitches, but its commercial reach has long extended beyond the stadium. In the UAE, that reach is now becoming increasingly visible in another industry – “Real Estate”.
Over the past few years, UAE developers have established partnerships with some of the biggest names in international football. BEYOND Developments has partnered with Paris Saint-Germain, DAMAC Properties with Chelsea FC, and Ohana Development with Manchester City. Sobha Realty has an established relationship with Arsenal, while Object 1 has partnered with Nottingham Forest. Prestige One Developments has taken its relationship with the Argentina Football Association into real estate, and Imtiaz Developments has formalised a partnership with the Portuguese Football Federation.
They are not identical arrangements. Some are commercial or sponsorship partnerships; others have resulted in football-branded residential projects. Together, however, they point to a broader development in the UAE property market: global football identities are increasingly becoming part of the way certain real estate projects and companies connect with international audiences.
Which UAE developers have football partnerships?
The current group includes BEYOND Developments with Paris Saint-Germain, DAMAC Properties with Chelsea FC, Ohana Development with Manchester City, Sobha Realty with Arsenal, Object 1 with Nottingham Forest, Prestige One Developments with the Argentina Football Association and Imtiaz Developments with the Portuguese Football Federation.
The nature of each relationship differs, which is important when looking at what is actually happening between football and property in the UAE.
BEYOND Developments and Paris Saint-Germain
In January 2026, Paris Saint-Germain announced a multi-year global partnership with BEYOND Developments, naming the Dubai-based developer its Premium Sleeve Partner until 2029. The BEYOND logo made its debut on the Paris Saint-Germain men’s first-team shirt during the club’s match against Paris FC on 4 January 2026.
This is a football partnership rather than a branded residential development.
The agreement covers activity across sport, culture, lifestyle and community engagement, including events, fan experiences and access to players and club legends, according to Paris Saint-Germain. The club also positioned the relationship around the connection between Paris and Dubai as internationally recognised cities with distinct cultural identities.
For a UAE property company, the arrangement puts its name into an established global sporting environment. It is a different approach from putting a football club’s name on a building, but it serves a similar purpose: connecting a UAE-based real estate business with audiences outside its home market.
DAMAC and Chelsea: when the club becomes part of the property
DAMAC’s relationship with Chelsea moves the football connection directly into residential real estate.
Chelsea Football Club announced a long-term global partnership with DAMAC Properties in 2025, naming DAMAC its Official Property Development Partner. The partnership also introduced Chelsea Residences by DAMAC in Dubai Maritime City, described by Chelsea as its first football-themed branded residences.
The project is planned to contain more than 1,400 residential units, with Chelsea branding incorporated into the development’s amenities and facilities. Chelsea’s announcement specifically referred to concierge services and high-performance spaces focused on areas including health, fitness and wellbeing. The distinction is significant.
In a conventional sponsorship, the club’s identity is primarily attached to visibility. With a branded residence, the football identity becomes part of the property’s physical and lifestyle proposition.
That creates a different relationship between sport and real estate: the club is no longer simply being seen alongside the developer. It becomes part of the address.
Ohana and Manchester City: building football into a residential destination
The same model is emerging in Abu Dhabi through Ohana Development’s partnership with Manchester City.
In January 2026, Ohana announced an agreement with Manchester City FC for Manchester City Yas Residences by Ohana, a residential development on Yas Canal. Ohana described it as the world’s first Manchester City-branded residential destination. The project spans 1.67 million square metres and includes villas, townhouses, maisonettes and apartments.
The development places sport and wellbeing alongside residential living rather than treating football as a separate marketing layer. Manchester City Yas Residences is therefore closer in structure to Chelsea Residences by DAMAC than to a conventional club sponsorship. The football institution becomes part of the project’s identity and environment.
It also illustrates how the concept is moving beyond Dubai. Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island has developed into a major leisure and entertainment destination, making it a natural setting for a project that combines residential property with an international sporting identity.
Sobha Realty and Arsenal: a different kind of football partnership
Not every UAE real estate and football relationship results in a branded development. Sobha Realty’s partnership with Arsenal is an example of a broader commercial relationship between a developer and a football club.
The multi-year agreement makes Sobha Realty Arsenal’s Official Global Real Estate Partner. It includes visibility at domestic matches at Emirates Stadium, naming rights to the stadium’s WM Club hospitality suite, and joint initiatives such as youth football clinics, tournaments and seminars. The relationship gives Sobha a presence within Arsenal’s matchday and wider international ecosystem without turning an Arsenal-branded residential project into the centre of the arrangement.
It also reflects the international nature of the Dubai property market. Arsenal’s own announcement around the partnership pointed to interest in Dubai real estate among UK consumers and the opportunity to connect with that audience.
That makes the partnership particularly relevant to the cross-border nature of UAE property investment.
Object 1 and Nottingham Forest
Object 1’s relationship with Nottingham Forest follows another route.
In October 2025, Nottingham Forest announced an official global partnership with Object 1. The initial agreement placed Object 1 branding on the front of shirts worn by Forest’s Academy teams, as well as pitchside LED advertising at the City Ground and visibility across the Nigel Doughty Academy. The partnership also included plans for content connected to Object 1’s developments and the club’s international audience. There is an important distinction here.
This is a commercial football partnership connected to the developer’s international reach, rather than a football-branded residential project. That makes it more comparable to the BEYOND–PSG and Sobha–Arsenal relationships than to the Chelsea and Manchester City residential developments.
Taken together, these examples show that the football connection can take several forms, depending on what the developer and sporting organisation are trying to achieve.
Prestige One and the Argentina Football Association
The relationship between Prestige One Developments and the Argentina Football Association goes further than a regional sponsorship.
In January 2026, AFA and Prestige One renewed their Regional Sponsorship Agreement in the Middle East. The AFA described Prestige One as its first regional real estate sponsor for the Argentina national team in the region. At the same time, the two organisations announced AFA Tower, a Dubai real estate development by Prestige One that uses the Argentine football association’s identity.
According to the AFA, the project was conceived as a mixed-use development incorporating luxury residences, AFA institutional spaces, an interactive museum of Argentine football, sporting facilities, indoor training areas, football-related experiences, food and beverage outlets and entertainment spaces.
This is one of the clearest examples of football moving from sponsorship into physical space. The Argentina national team’s identity, history and football culture become part of the concept of a Dubai development.
Imtiaz and the Portuguese Football Federation
The latest example in this group comes from Imtiaz Developments and the Portuguese Football Federation.
Imtiaz’s official events record states that the company and the Portuguese Football Federation formalised their partnership at a signing ceremony at Estádio do Jamor in Portugal. The developer describes the relationship as a strategic partnership.
At this stage, the publicly available information confirms the partnership itself. It should not be described as a Portuguese football-branded residential project unless further details are formally announced.
That distinction is worth maintaining as more property companies enter football partnerships. A relationship with a football club or federation does not automatically mean that a branded development is involved.
Why football has particular relevance to UAE real estate
The wider property market provides part of the explanation for the growing interest in international partnerships.
Dubai’s real estate sector recorded more than AED 917 billion in transactions across more than 270,000 transactions in 2025, according to the Dubai government. Real estate investment exceeded AED 680 billion across 258,600 deals, with the investor base reaching approximately 193,100.
Dubai’s international visitor numbers provide another part of the picture. The emirate welcomed 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, up 5% from the previous year.
Neither figure is directly attributable to football partnerships. They do, however, illustrate the international scale of the market in which these developers operate. A property company in Dubai or Abu Dhabi is potentially speaking to buyers and residents from multiple countries. Football offers access to an audience that is already international by nature. A supporter does not have to live in Paris to follow Paris Saint-Germain. The same applies to Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Argentina or Portugal. Real estate, meanwhile, is tied to a physical location.
The UAE brings those two characteristics together – global sporting identities and physical destinations in the same market.
From sponsorship to physical space
Perhaps the most interesting part of this trend is not simply the number of football partnerships. It is the range of ways in which those relationships are being used.
A sleeve partnership places a developer’s name on a football shirt. A global real estate partnership can create visibility around a club’s stadium and international audience. A branded residence goes further by incorporating a club or federation’s identity into the property itself.
Chelsea Residences by DAMAC, Manchester City Yas Residences by Ohana and AFA Tower represent that latter category.
BEYOND and PSG, Sobha and Arsenal, Object 1 and Nottingham Forest, and Imtiaz and the Portuguese Football Federation represent different forms of commercial partnership.
Putting all seven into a single category would therefore miss the more interesting development. The story is not simply that UAE developers are sponsoring football. It is that football and real estate are finding several different ways to occupy the same commercial space.
When an address carries an identity
Property has traditionally been defined by practical considerations: location, architecture, amenities, connectivity and price. Those remain central to a property’s value. But branded developments add another layer – identity.
A football association or club brings with it a history, a community of supporters and an existing cultural connection. For some developments, that identity becomes part of the experience being offered to residents.
The UAE is particularly suited to this model because of the country’s international population, tourism economy and position as a destination for global investment. It also explains why the partnerships span different football markets.
Paris brings one cultural identity. Chelsea and Arsenal bring English football heritage. Manchester City brings another global sporting brand. Argentina and Portugal connect the property market with national football identities that have their own international followings.
The property remains in the UAE. The story attached to it can come from almost anywhere.
What happens after the final whistle?
It is too early to say whether football-branded real estate will become a lasting category within the UAE property market. Not every partnership will result in a residential development, and not every branded project will have the same appeal to buyers. There is also a practical question that sits beneath the football association: can the property itself deliver what buyers expect?
A famous club can attract attention, but the long-term proposition still depends on the development, its location, design, facilities and execution. That is why the current trend is more interesting than a simple list of sponsorships.
From a Paris Saint-Germain shirt sleeve to Chelsea-branded residences, from a Manchester City residential destination in Abu Dhabi to Arsenal’s partnership with Sobha Realty, football is becoming part of the UAE’s wider property conversation.
The matches may still be played thousands of kilometres away. But in the UAE, some of football’s most recognisable names are increasingly becoming part of the address.
Sources:
- Paris Saint-Germain — BEYOND Developments partnership
- Chelsea FC — DAMAC Properties partnership
- Ohana Development — Manchester City partnership
- Sobha Realty — Arsenal partnership
- Nottingham Forest — Object 1 partnership
- Argentina Football Association — AFA Tower / Prestige One
- Imtiaz Developments — Portuguese Football Federation partnership
- Dubai Government — 2025 real estate market figures
- Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism — 2025 tourism figures