11teamsports, the German multi-channel retailer, has taken control of Top4Sport, a similar Czech-based sporting goods retailer, by acquiring a 51 percent stake in the company on June 1. The takeover is expanding the group's presence in other parts of Europe. Up to now, 11teamsports was only represented in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland.
Top4Sport specializes in the football, running and fitness segments. The company's business model is similar to 11teamsport's strategy. Top4Sport is a market leader in e-commerce in Eastern Europe and owns and manages various online stores, including Top4Sport, Top4Football, Top4Running, Top4Fitness and Top4Street. The company has customers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and even Spain.
Top4 Sport employs a total of 100 people. The business was created nine years ago, starting as a team sports sales partner to Nike. In addition to its online sales operations, it now has three brick-and-mortar stores in Prague and Bratislava. The company's team sports sales department supplies equipment to 250 sports clubs, including ten European first league football clubs.
11teamsports, whose e-commerce operations address 1.5 million active customers in the German-speaking countries, recently expanded its network of stores. In 2019, it opened a new store in Vienna, its sixth one in Austria, as well as two new stores in Germany. The retailer now has 20 brick-and-mortar stores – six in Austria, 13 in Germany and one in Switzerland.
11teamsports is the official supplier of more than 3,500 sports clubs. Since 2019, it is also an official partner of the German Football Association, responsible for the embroidery on the German national soccer team's jerseys. It has just signed a similar partnership for the next two years with the VfB Stuttgart football club, working alongside the club's sponsor, Adidas, to embroider its shirts and also to help promote new talent.
Between its stores and its headquarters in Crailsheim, 11teamsports employs over 600 people. It recently appointed a business development manager, Carsten Franck, to develop relations with sports federations.
