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Nike will replace Adidas as sponsor of the German national soccer team, bringing an end to one of the sport's longest-running kit partnerships in a new setback for the struggling brand.
Nike will become the new main kit supplier for all national football teams from 2027 after signing a seven-year contract with the world's largest sportswear maker, the German Football Association announced on Thursday afternoon.
It will be the first time since 1950 that German national footballers will not wear the distinctive three-stripe logo of Adidas, which was founded in the town of Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg a year ago.
The German Football Association said on Thursday that Nike had made its “best financial offer ever” and had also committed to supporting “amateur and grassroots sports” as well as women's football in Germany.
“I was lucky enough to be in Germany to watch our home court earlier this week,” Nike CEO John Donahue said Thursday. He said that the company focused on the men's and women's national teams and the goal was to “make the German team a global brand, and make their athletes world champions…”. . . When Nike gives our best, no one can beat us.
The German Football Association did not reveal the financial terms of the deal. The association stressed that its tender was “transparent and non-discriminatory,” adding that it is “grateful” because it faces a “financially stable future” thanks to the support pledged by Nike.
Bernd Neuendorf, president of the German Football Association, said: “German football owes a lot to us [Adidas] For more than seven decades of cooperation.”
Losing sponsorship of her home country's national soccer team is a blow to sports-obsessed CEO Björn Gölden. Golden, a former professional footballer, pledged to build on Adidas' rich historical heritage to lead the group out of its deepest financial crisis in three decades.
“Today we informed the German Football Association that the association will have a new supplier from 2027 onwards,” Adidas said in a statement.
Financially, the German Football Association's decision will not have any immediate impact on Adidas, as its contract covers this year's Euro 2024, which Germany will host, as well as the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
This month, Adidas made headlines in Germany when it unveiled the national team's kit for Euro 2024, including a pink shirt that bears no historical precedent. The company said this week that the shirt had already become a bestseller, but declined to reveal detailed numbers.
