Fiorentina will rep Save the Children on their jerseys this year

For the third time this decade, Fiorentina have been unable to secure a shirt sponsor after their deal with appliance maker Vorwerk Folletto ran out. While there’s still a chance that the club gets a late deal done with someone to bring in some extra money, past occurrences indicate that it’ll probably be another sponsor-free season like 2010-2011 and 2014-2015. In lieu of a corporate entity, the Viola will do what they did in those two seasons and rep non-profit organization Save the Children on the front of the jersey.

While the purists and the aesthetes prefer the plain-fronted uniform, which has just the club crest and Le Coq Sportif badge on the front, it’s hard to get too riled up over this one. The bigger issue for Fiorentina is the loss of revenue that a shirt sponsor brings. While we never figured out exactly how much Vorwerk paid to have their name emblazoned across the players’ chests, our estimate a couple years ago of €3 million feels about right.

That may not seem like a lot, but every cent helps right now as the club looks to stay within the bounds of Financial Fair Play (not being AC Milan is definitely a hindrance) and has to make do without the Europa League despite the execrable skulduggery of the TAS. That €3 million could also go a long way towards a contract extension and pay raise for any of Federico Chiesa, Giovanni Simeone, Nikola Milenković, Jordan Veretout, or one of the other core players who are probably going to need a raise to stick around.

Save the Children, while not without controversy, does a lot of very good work, and Viola fans should be proud that the club is working with the organization, even if it’s in the most superficial of fashions. But forgoing a shirt sponsor in favor of a charity feels like a very Fiorentina move: elegant, romantic, applauded by the neutrals, and ultimately self-sabotaging. So, maybe this is the right choice after all.