CHELSEA will proudly wear the Club World Cup badge on their shirts for the rest of the Premier League season.
Sunsport can reveal that the Blues – who won the FIFA competition for the first time earlier this month – have had their request accepted by the League after failed previous attempts by Manchester United and Liverpool.
Chelsea, who beat Palmeiras 2-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi, wore the badge on their away shirts at Palace on Saturday but thought it was only a one-off.
But League bosses agree with Chelsea that having the title of world champions is positive for English football and the rules – which banned changes to a kit during the season – have been bent a little.
When Liverpool won the Club World Cup in Qatar in 2019, they were only allowed to wear the badge once in a clash at home to Wolves.
United were refused permission after they won the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, the first time an English club won the tournament.
The badge will not be on Chelsea’s shirts for the Champions League game at home to Lille but will be in place for the next Premier League clash away to Burnley on March 5.
Other teams in Europe such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have worn the badge after their successes in the Club World Cup and Chelsea will be allowed to wear it until the end of the next FIFA tournament, although the date for that has yet to be decided.
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HARRY MAGUIRE gestured towards members of Manchester United’s board after scoring the opening goal in Manchester United’s win at Leeds.
After celebrating in front of the Leeds fans – a sweet moment for a Sheffield lad – Maguire made a signal towards the bench but also into the stands.
Maguire was looking up at new chief executive Richard Arnold and David Gill, who once did the same job.
Gill still goes to United’s games and sits on the board but only in an advisory, non-executive role.
ENGLAND will discover their World Cup opponents at the draw in Qatar on Friday April 1.
Ideally, the draw would have been on Saturday April 2 but that is the start of the muslim religious festival of Ramadan.
This means managers from around the world will not have much time as they head from the midweek round of international fixtures straight to Doha.
England face Ivory Coast on March 29 which is the same night as the World Cup play-offs which, potentially, could be Wales v Scotland and Italy v Portugal.
SUNDERLAND fans are angry about quite a few things at the moment.
It has emerged that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus only owns 41 per cent so the former ownership group of Stewart Donald, Juan Sartori and Charlie Methven still owned a combined 59 per cent share.
The return of Roy Keane failed to happen, the team struggling and now, club legend Kevin Ball has left his ambassadorial role with the club.
This has seen an end to his three-decade association with the Black Cat as he spent almost a decade as a player before becoming coach, academy manager and occasional caretaker.
Had been ambassador since 2014, was furloughed from that role when Covid struck and has not returned since.
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