Airwallex × Arsenal: One year in, where is the partnership now?
More than a year after Airwallex became Arsenal’s Official Finance Software Partner, the relationship has moved into the club’s hospitality operation. Here’s what has changed, what Airwallex is actually powering, and where the partnership goes next.
More than a year after Airwallex became Arsenal’s Official Finance Software Partner, the relationship has moved into the club’s hospitality operation. Here’s what has changed, what Airwallex is actually powering, and where the partnership goes next.
It started as a global partnership
When Airwallex and Arsenal announced their multi-year partnership in July 2025, the deal looked fairly broad. Airwallex became Arsenal’s Official Finance Software Partner, while also taking the role of Presenting Partner for the club’s 2025/26 pre-season tour across Singapore and Hong Kong. The companies said they would work together on Arsenal’s payment gateway services and other areas of its financial operations, while Airwallex branding would appear across Emirates Stadium and Arsenal’s digital channels.
More than a year later, there is something more concrete to look at. Airwallex has now been integrated into Arsenal’s hospitality payments operation, covering premium seating, corporate boxes and VIP experiences at Emirates Stadium. That makes this less about what the partnership was supposed to become when it was announced and more about what is actually running today.
The problem was happening at checkout
Arsenal’s hospitality business increasingly serves supporters booking from different parts of the world. The club therefore had to deal with the usual complications that come with international commerce: different jurisdictions, currencies, payment methods and the need to understand how bookings were performing across markets.
According to Airwallex’s case study, the previous payments set-up made two things particularly difficult:
- giving supporters a familiar way to pay depending on where they were booking from, and
- getting a real-time view of hospitality bookings across markets.
That gives us a much more interesting way to look at the partnership. The problem wasn’t simply that Arsenal needed another payment provider. Its hospitality operation was becoming increasingly international, while the infrastructure underneath it was making that complexity harder to manage.
So what changed?
Airwallex’s Checkout has been integrated directly into Arsenal’s bespoke hospitality platform. Supporters can use familiar payment methods, including digital wallets and relevant local card and payment options across markets.
There is also more flexibility around currencies and payment flows. For Arsenal, that matters because a hospitality business serving an international audience cannot really treat every customer as though they are making a domestic UK purchase. The payment experience has to account for where the supporter is coming from.
The other change is less visible.
The bigger change is happening behind the scenes
Airwallex says Arsenal’s day-to-day reporting has improved since the migration. The club can run reports more easily, with payment data more closely linked to sales and fewer timing mismatches than under the previous set-up. In practical terms, that gives the team a clearer view of hospitality performance rather than leaving payment information and sales information sitting slightly out of sync.
That may be the more interesting part of the whole arrangement. A supporter sees a payment screen. Arsenal sees the infrastructure behind thousands of those transactions.
And that infrastructure is now being built with international expansion in mind.
Where does it go from here?
The hospitality migration is not being presented as the end point. Airwallex says the new set-up gives Arsenal a foundation for future international payment initiatives, including pre-season tours and Corporate Cards. The club is also tagging metadata and unique identifiers as part of the current implementation, creating the groundwork for deeper system integration over time.
That fits with the original partnership announcement, which described the relationship as extending beyond branding and into Arsenal’s wider financial operations.
It also sits within a wider shift in how fintechs are using sports partnerships. Airwallex’s own sports portfolio now spans McLaren, Arsenal, the San Francisco Giants, the Blues and Essendon, with different partnerships bringing different parts of its financial platform into sports organisations.
We covered that broader strategy earlier this year >>
Marcel
Arsenal itself has also added other fintech relationships. Zilch became the club’s Official Way to Pay in late 2025, with its proposition focused on Arsenal’s retail ecosystem and supporter benefits. That makes Arsenal an interesting property to watch from the fintech side: different financial companies are finding different places inside the same commercial ecosystem.
For Airwallex, the Arsenal relationship currently sits somewhere between sponsorship and infrastructure. The branding is still there, but the more interesting development is underneath it - a payment system being used for the club’s hospitality business and gradually being connected to more of its international operations.
Interested in how another fintech is using sport to accelerate its growth?
We explore, track and decode every fintech x sports deal happening. Be a part of FinTech in The Arena now!
Comments ()