Sportswear giant Adidas has signed a £750m deal to make Manchester United’s kit for 10 years from next season.
It comes after US rivals Nike decided to end their association at the end of the coming 2014-15 season.
Nike have been paying United £23.5m a year, and the new deal is worth a world record-breaking £75m a season to the Old Trafford club.
Champions League winner Real Madrid’s £31m-a-year deal with Adidas was previously the biggest club deal.
Adidas will provide training and playing kit to all of the club’s teams. In addition, it will have the exclusive right to distribute dual-branded merchandising products worldwide.
The huge sum involved is only £40m less than the Glazer family paid for club in 2005.
Sales boost
Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer said the deal would help the firm “to further strengthen our position in key markets around the world”.
“We expect total sales to reach £1.5bn during the duration of our partnership,” he added.
It will be the first time Adidas has made the Premier League’s team’s strip for 23 years, since the 1991-92 season.
The announcement comes a day after the German firm, a Fifa World Cup sponsor, provided the playing kit for both the teams in 2014 final, Germany and Argentina.
In midday trade on the German stock exchange, the firm’s shares were up by 2.78%.
Other teams supplied by the firm include Bayern Munich, Chelsea, AC Milan, Flamengo and – from the 2015/2016 season – Juventus.
‘Global position’
Dr Leah Donlan, a marketing expert at Manchester Business School said the Adidas deal “will be seen to provide them with a significant competitive advantage over its rival Nike”.
She added that by adding Manchester United to its portfolio of teams, Adidas could “strengthen its global brand position”.
When it announced it was stepping away, a Nike statement said “the terms that were on offer for a renewed contract did not represent good value for Nike’s shareholders”.
BIGGEST KIT DEALS
| TEAM | MAKER | PER YEAR | YEARS | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester United | Adidas | £75m | 10 years | £750m |
| Real Madrid | Adidas | £31m | 8 years | £248m |
| Chelsea | Adidas | £30m | 10 years | £300m |
| Arsenal | Puma | £30m | 5 years | £170m |
| Barcelona | Nike | £27m | 10 years | £270m |
| Liverpool | Warrior | £25m | 6 years | £150m |
| Manchester City | Nike | £12m | 6 years | £72m |
The club suffered its worst Premier League finish to date last season after manager Sir Alex Ferguson left following 26 years in the job.
His successor, David Moyes, lasted just 10 months and Dutch manager Louis van Gaal takes over now that the Netherlands’ World Cup campaign has ended.
It has already unveiled the last MUFC kit bearing the Nike logo, one which features US motor giants Chevrolet as shirt sponsors for the first time.
They are said to be paying £53m a year to have their names splashed on the red shirt fronts.
As part of Nike’s agreement, the firm had been given a period of exclusivity to negotiate an extension and also retained the right to match any other offer.
But the company decided against exercising either option.
Since the Glazer family took over at Manchester United, they have segmented many of their sponsorship deals, seeking specific regional partnership deals in many of their sponsorship sectors.
Other high-profile arrangements included an agreement to rename their Carrington training ground.
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Source: BBC Sport
Information from the Daily Mail was used in the article