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Nike will replace Adidas as the sponsor of the German national soccer team, ending one of the longest-running kit partnerships in sport in a new setback for the struggling brand.
The German soccer association DFB announced Thursday afternoon that Nike will become the new main kit supplier for all national soccer teams starting in 2027 after signing a seven-year contract with the world’s largest sportswear manufacturer.
It will be the first time since 1950 that the German national team will not wear the distinctive three-stripe logo of Adidas, founded a year earlier in the city of Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg.
The DFB said on Thursday that Nike made “by far the best financial offer” and also pledged to support “amateur and grassroots sport” and women’s football in Germany.
“I was fortunate enough to be in Germany for our camp earlier this week,” Nike CEO John Donahoe said Thursday. He said the company emphasized both the men’s and women’s national teams and the goal “of making the German team a global brand and making its athletes global heroes. . . when Nike brings out the best in us, no one can beat us.”
The DFB did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. The association stressed that its competition was “transparent and non-discriminatory”, adding that it was “grateful” to be able to face a “financially stable future” thanks to the support promised by Nike.
DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said that “German football owes a lot to [Adidas] for more than seventy years of cooperation”.
Losing sponsorship of his home country’s national football team is a blow to sports-obsessed Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden. A former professional football player, Gulden has vowed to leverage Adidas’ rich heritage to lead the group out of its deepest financial crisis in three decades.
Adidas said in a statement that “we were informed today by the DFB that the federation will have a new supplier from 2027 onwards.”
Financially, the DFB’s decision will have no immediate impact on Adidas as its contract covers this year’s Euro 2024 tournament to be hosted by Germany, 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 away shirt that has no historical precursor. The company said this week that the shirt has already become a bestseller but declined to reveal detailed numbers.