Warrior Sports, the team-sports subsidiary of the New Balance group, will replace Adidas as the new official supplier of the Liverpool football club in England for the next six years. The contract will take effect from June 1 and will see Warrior developing Liverpool's uniforms and training clothing.
The U.S. company, which has grown strongly in the last few years by focusing mainly on hockey and lacrosse, described the move as the starting point in its “global football journey” by partnering with one of the biggest clubs in the history of the sport. Warrior said it will employ industry experts in design, product development and marketing for the implementation of its new football project.
Liverpool jerseys are said to be the fourth-highest-selling football team replicas in the world after those of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona. According to reports that could not be confirmed, Warrior agreed to pay almost £25 million (€30.0m-$38.6m) a year under the new contract, close to the amount paid by Nike to sponsor the Manchester United team, compared with the annual fee of £12 million (€14.4m-$18.5m) that Adidas has been paying.
Adidas had inherited the contract from Reebok. A spokesperson for Adidas indicated that the Three Stripes were unwilling to compete with Warrior's offer, feeling that it would probably have not been worth the investment.
