In another instalment of the reset of large-scale football endorsement deals, Nike has extended and raised the value of its partnerships with both the French and English football associations.
Nike didn't publicize the sums involved in either of the deals, but L'Equipe reported that the partnership with the French Football Federation (FFF) could be worth about €50 million a year, while Sky Sports placed the 12-year England agreement at about £33 million (€39.2m-$40.8m) a year. This compares with the deal of €50 million a year agreed this summer between Adidas and the German football federation for four years until 2022.
Nike and the FFF said that their new contract will run from 2018 until the end of the 2026 season. It will cover the French national teams, but for the first time, French amateur football will also be part of the agreement. The sum reported by L'Equipe would consist of €38 million cash and equipment worth €12 million per year.
Nike's previous agreement with the FFF made waves, because it ended a 38-year partnership with Adidas and reached €42.6 million, starting in 2011, which was the largest such deal in international football at the time.The extension of the partnership comes after a tender process launched on Nov. 2.
The deal with the England Football Association has been estimated at £400 million (€474.8m-$494.8m) from August 2018 to 2030. This marks a relatively small improvement from the previous agreement, which was estimated at £32 million (€38.0m-$39.6m) per year - probably not aided by a performance that saw the England squad unable to go past the group stage at the 2014 World Cup and eliminated by Iceland at this summer's European football championships. It has been reported in England that the performance clauses in the Nike contract go both ways – with penalties in case of under-performance and bonus payments in case they score well.
England players started wearing Nike jerseys on the national team in 2013, after a transfer of the FA's agreement with Umbro, which had been the England team's partner since the fifties. Nike owned Umbro at the time when this transfer was announced, in 2012, but the English football brand was sold to the Iconix Brand Group a few weeks later. Along the same lines as the French federation, the FA stated that Nike would be supporting grassroots football across the country.
Nike's football budget apparently went through the roof this year, probably in part in reaction to the loss of its partnership with Manchester United. The U.S. brand signed a deal widely reported to be worth £900 million (€1,068.6m-$1,113.5m) to have the Swoosh on Chelsea's jerseys for 15 years. The deal amounts to the largest kit sponsorship in the English Premier League, although Adidas is paying more on an annual basis for its ten-year deal of £750 million (€890.4m-$927.7m) with Manchester United. Earlier this year Nike had extended its partnership with FC Barcelona, and it turned out in October that the contract could be worth a whopping €150 million per year.
