Despite the previously unheard of €80 limit being regularly exceeded, the importance of a club’s football shirt feels at an all-time high.
It’s more than just the kit a team wears on Saturday, but more of a fashion statement, with the game beginning to recognize its intrinsic link with the increasing prominence of streetwear and the importance of football to British urban culture.
Kits are selling out at record speed, with retro and throwback strips fueling the nostalgia that football fans perhaps cherish more than any other part of society, perhaps allowing them to take note of the eye-watering prices.
Today there are even three kits for some of the biggest teams, meaning it’s never been more crucial for manufacturers to get it right.
Adidas’ willingness to use the iconic designs of yesteryear to modernize the kits of the top teams has made them hugely successful in recent years, resulting in countless cult classics.
Liverpool expect to earn more than £60 million a year from their new kit deal with Adidas
Man United’s 10-year partnership with Adidas will be worth the Premier League giants £900m
The German giants have reportedly secured another big scalp over traditional rivals such as Nike and Puma by agreeing a deal on a new kit from next season.
A report from the Guardian indicates that Liverpool will rake in more than £60 million a year from Adidas, putting them on par with Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea at the top of the table.
The Premier League is dominated by those five; United lead the way with a deal worth as much as £90 million per year for ten years, which isn’t much of a surprise given their status as arguably the biggest brand in the game.
It’s a huge 10-year deal, but that’s nothing compared to Chelsea’s current deal. Similar to their approach to attracting the best young talent in recent years, the Blues have partnered with Nike until 2032. In fact, they were so keen to sign their own £900m deal over 15 years that they actually coughed up £40m. saying goodbye to adidas early.
As a Chelsea fan you would hope that the quality of the kits decreases as you have to wait a generation before you can even consider leaving. As it is, the current selection of shirts is decent enough, with the white away kit being a particular highlight.
Arsenal’s current adidas deal earns them more per year than the Blues’ £60m per year, with the Gunners taking home around £75m per year, and the kits they have been treated to in recent years have been more than worth it .
The return of the three stripes on the sleeves at the Emirates has also coincided with an upward turn in form. Each of their home kits over the last three years has been worthy of being immortalized with a trophy lift, although things haven’t quite turned out that way. The good news is that they have until 2030 to achieve this.
It’s an area where they are effectively beaten to Man City, whose £650m deal in 2019 will earn them £65m a year until 2029, and although the Gunners are around £10m short, it’s still a fantastic deal with Puma.
Arsenal are tied to Adidas on a £75m-a-year contract until the end of the 2029-30 season
Chelsea stunned the football world when they signed a 15-year contract with Nike as their supplier
Puma CEO Bjorn Gulden even said at the time that this was the largest deal his company had ever done.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are still some way behind their rivals, despite arguably having the best ground in the country. A report from earlier this year claimed the north London company earned around £30 million a year from Nike.
Not quite being of the same caliber as their five rivals, it is perhaps fair that they are a lot lower on the list, although it may be surprising that they lag behind their arch-enemy Arsenal. However, Spurs are currently six years into a 15-year contract.
Man United’s £90m represents a statement deal, but isn’t even in the top two kit deals in Europe.
These two spots are reserved for LaLiga’s titan duo Real Madrid and Barcelona, who even now continue to benefit from the era between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, which saw the Spanish league flourish at an unprecedented rate.
With the Galacticos 2.0 still forming in the Spanish capital, it’s no surprise to see the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jnr appearing in a Real Madrid kit that earns the club £110 million a year from Nike.
Although Barcelona are in a difficult period with financial problems plaguing their every move, they are not far behind at £100 million a year, and are also sponsored by Spotify, with a collaboration with Coldplay on the cards for the first El Clásico of the season. , which further underlines their marketability.
Outside England and Spain, Paris Saint-Germain – who has become one of the kings of kit marketing in recent years – reigns supreme with a £68m-a-year partnership with Nike.
It will come as no surprise that Spanish superteams Real Madrid and Barcelona are at the top
Harry Kane and Bayern Munich are unsurprisingly the kings of the Bundesliga thanks to their partnership with Adidas
The deal has brought us the coveted Air Jordan collaboration that has set wallets and hearts racing, and opened the French club on Oxford Circus in central London.
In Germany, Bayern Munich – shocked – dominates the charts. The German titans have partnered with their country’s biggest name in the sport, Adidas, and that deal runs until 2030, netting the Bavarians around £42.5 million a year.
In Italy, even though they haven’t won the Scudetto since 2019-20, Juventus are still the kings of Serie A as far as kit manufacturers go.
The Old Lady’s shirt may not make it as far in the Champions League as Bayern Munich’s these days, but it will see Juve earn £46m a year from Adidas until 2027 thanks to a 2018 contract extension.