Under Armour is investing in global football in the U.S., but is reportedly facing potential competition from Nike in the soccer fields of Europe. According to a report in the English Daily Mail, Nike is negotiating a deal worth at least £30 million (€38.7m-$43.0m) a year for the sponsorship of the Tottenham Hotspur team in London. That would be three times the amount dished out by UA under a contract which it signed in 2011, replacing Puma. The contract is due to expire at the end of the 2016/17 season.
Meanwhile, UA has announced a multi-year partnership with the New York Cosmos, which has been sponsored lately by Nike, beginning with the team's 2016 season. The deal, whose cost has not been revealed, marks the brand's first professional soccer team sponsorship in the U.S. It covers the design and development of match uniforms and footwear. The brand will also provide the team with competition, training, sideline, travel gear and apparel. The uniform will be unveiled at the UA Brand House in New York on March 16.
The company will also be providing a custom-designed ball in partnership with the North American Soccer League (NASL), the league where the Cosmos play. It is UA's first partnership involving an official soccer match ball. The ball will make its official debut on April 2, when the NASL kicks off its 2016 spring season. NASL clubs have already been using it for their pre-season training sessions. The NASL is a professional men's soccer league with 12 teams of which nine are based in the U.S., two in Canada and one in Puerto Rico. In the American league system the NASL is the second division, under Major League Soccer (MLS) and above the United Soccer League. The Cosmos are the reigning NASL champions, having won their second league title in three seasons and seventh overall last Nov. 15.
Besides Tottenham, UA currently outfits other important global football clubs outside the U.S. such as São Paulo FC, Colo-Colo and Cruz Azul. It also partners with players like Memphis Depay of Manchester United and Granit Xhaka of Borussia Mönchengladbach, as well as Lauren Holiday and Kelley O'Hara, who were part of the women's team that won the 2015 Fifa Women's World Cup, hosted by Canada and won by the U.S. team. In the autumn of 2015, the brand launched its first-ever soccer campaign entitled “Slay Your Next Giant,” focusing on the dedication it takes to prevail over challenges at every level of the game and the importance of valuing the journey over the destination.
The original New York Cosmos club began to play in 1971, and spent 14 seasons in the NASL, winning five Soccer Bowl trophies and bringing some of the most famous names in world soccer to the U.S. These included Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia and Carlos Alberto. The arrival of these stars contributed to the development of soccer across the U.S. Following Pelé's retirement, in 1977, attendance fell, the league's TV deal was lost, and the club was finally dissolved in 1985, after playing its last season in 1984. The Cosmos attempted to continue operations in the Major Indoor Soccer League, but the club withdrew without even completing the season due to very low attendance. A new Cosmos team was announced in August 2010 by Pelé, the honorary president of an international, English-based consortium that bought the name and image rights in 2009 from G. Peppe Pinton, the franchise's former general manager. The new Cosmos started playing in the NASL during the autumn of 2013.
