adidas and Manchester United Officially Announce Partnership

As part of the agreement, adidas will supply product to Manchester United and outfit all of the club’s teams.

adidas and Manchester United Officially Announce Partnership

words // Brandon Richard

via Press Release

Today, adidas and Manchester United officially announce a new partnership. As part of the agreement, adidas will supply product to Manchester United and outfit all of the club’s teams. In addition, adidas will have the exclusive right to distribute dual-branded merchandising products worldwide.

“We are excited to team up with Manchester United, one of the most successful and most loved football clubs globally. Our new partnership with Manchester United clearly underlines our leadership in football and will help us to further strengthen our position in key markets around the world,” said Herbert Hainer, adidas Group CEO. “At the same time, this collaboration marks a milestone for us when it comes to merchandising potential. We expect total sales to reach 1.5 billion GBP during the duration of our partnership.”

According to Forbes, the uniform deal is the richest in the history of sports. Adidas will reportedly pay $1.3 billion over 10 years to United, or $130 million a year, beginning with the 2015-2015 season. The previous high for a soccer team was $41 million annually paid by adidas to Real Madrid.

One of the sport’s most popular and successful clubs, Man U has won 62 trophies in its 137-year heritage, enabling the club to develop the world’s leading sports brand and a global  community of 659 million followers. Manchester United joins a roster of soccer partners that includes Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC, AC Milan, Flamengo and - also starting with the 2015-2016 season - Juventus.

Adidas is the outfitter of yesterday’s two finalists in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, World Champion Germany and runner-up Argentina, and is also the partner of FIFA’s adidas Golden Ball winner Leo Messi, adidas Golden Boot winner James Rodriguez, and adidas Golden Glove winner Manuel Neuer.

As global leader in football, adidas is also the Official Partner of the most important football tournaments and leagues in the world, such as the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Confederations Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, UEFA European Championships and Major League Soccer. Some of the world’s best players on the adidas roster are Leo Messi, Gareth Bale, Thomas Müller, Arjen Robben, James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

adidas Signs Manchester United