10 Most Lucrative Kit Manufacturer Deals in Football

The truth about modern football is that what goes on behind the scenes is pretty much just as important as what happens on the pitch. You can have all the talent in the world in a squad, but those players won’t hang around for long if the club is being run like a circus.

Just look at Lionel Messi. The greatest player in the history of the sport ultimately left Barcelona in 2021 because the Spanish giants didn’t have enough of a wage budget left to offer him a new contract. In the years since, the Catalan outfit have pulled many levers, but their finances remain in a worrying state.

This may explain why they are teetering on the edge of leaving Nike – who have been their kit sponsors since 1998 – and moving to Puma in a move which could see them earn £171m per season. Should that deal go through, Barca would land the most lucrative kit deal in the world of football.

But until that happens, Barcelona will have to make do we what they have – which isn’t bad, by the way. Along that line of thinking, we’ve written about the 10 biggest kit sponsorship deals in football, as per Mail Online.

10 Tottenham Hotspur, Nike

Value per year: £30m

Forget about their state-of-the-art stomping ground for a second – and focus on their sponsorship revenue. Tottenham Hotspur, despite swallowing up a whopping £30m per year thanks to their kit deal with Nike, are still lagging some way behind their rivals.

After putting pen to paper in 2018, the north London-based outfit are currently six years into a 15-year deal with Nike having exclusive rights to design and produce their kits until, at least, 2033. On-pitch proceedings may have improved somewhat under Ange Postecoglou – but they still have a far way to go to be on level pegging with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.

9 Bayern Munich, Adidas

Value per year: £42.5m

It’s hard to imagine a Bayern Munich shirt without an Adidas logo on it, where it be an Essential or Treefoil type look. After all, their relationship dates back to 1974 when the Bavarian club wore a sponsor on their chest for the first time in their history. Since those days of growth with Franz Beckenbauer and his merry men, many triumphs have followed.

Indeed, Bayern have won the Bundesliga every season since 2012/13 – bar 2023/24 – and with such levels of consistency, coupled with their storied history, and it’s no surprise that Adidas have signed a lengthy contract with them. Starting in 2015, the deal will run for 15 years, working out at £42.5m per year.

8 Juventus, Adidas

Value per year: £46m

From the 2011/12 campaign all the way through to the 2019/20 season, Juventus won the Serie A without any interruption from their fellow top flight sides. This likely would have influenced Adidas when they agreed an eight-year contract with the Italian giants in 2019. Unfortunately for both parties, the highest Juve have finished since then is fourth.

They even finished as low as seventh in 2022/23 after picking up a 10-point ban as punishment for ‘false accounting’ in relation to past transfer dealings. They consequently didn’t qualify for the Champions League or Europa League and were banned from the Europa Conference League due to a violation of UEFA’s financial regulations. They’re now back in the Europe’s top table, however, which will be welcome news for their kit supplier.

7 Liverpool, Adidas

Value per year: £60m

Currently partnered with Nike, Liverpool boast a fairly short contract. Signed in 2020, their five-year deal with the global company, worth £30m-per-year, will expire in 2025. At the time, the Reds would have been one of the most exciting clubs in the world.

After all, they had won the Champions League in 2018/19 and then followed that up by winning the Premier League 12 months later. Manager Jurgen Klopp was the mastermind behind all this but his decision to leave the club at the end of the 2023/24 season could impact their finances.

Arne Slot has turned the club into a title-challenging side and, as such, have piqued the interest of Adidas. Per the Guardian, Merseysiders are set to make more than £60m per year in a kit deal with the latter – in a deal that is set to come into effect from the start of 2025/26.

6 Chelsea, Nike

Value per year: £60m

It’s hard to talk about owner Todd Boehly without thinking about long-term deals. The American has, after all, been the brains behind handing out contracts to Mykhaylo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson that run until, at least, 2031.

However, Chelsea’s current terms with Nike date back to the Roman Abramovich era, with the agreement being signed in 2016. That 15-year deal will see the relationship run until at least 2032 with the Blues raking in £60m per year– the second-highest fee of all London clubs.

It’s unlikely that either party would have expected so much turbulence in the eight years since it was agreed. Indeed, in that time, the ownership has changed, and they’ve had a plethora of different managers – at least they’ve also won the Champions League in that time period.

5 Manchester City, Puma

Value per year: £65m

While Puma have had their sights set on landing Barcelona, their current biggest clients are Manchester City. The English side are flying the flag well for the brand, though, having won the treble in 2022/23 thanks to the genius of Pep Guardiola, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Co.

In 2019, are deal was agreed which will see City net £65m per year for an entire decade. With the Cityzens facing 115 breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP), fans of the club will be hoping all that income from the sponsors will go some way to proving their innocence.

4 Arsenal, Adidas

Value per year: £75m

Arsenal’s contract with Adidas is one of the most recent. It only began in 2024, which explains why, in terms of payment per annum, they are one of the best-paid teams – ranking fourth on that front, with a £75m fixed payment every year.

However, their contract is only six years, so the total sum only sees them ranked seventh out of the top ten. The club look to be on an upward trajectory under Mikel Arteta, now challenging for Premier League titles again and back in the Champions League.

With that in mind, it makes sense that Adidas have increased their payment – which was previously reported to be in the region of £300m over five years – to £450.78m over six years. Puma was their prior kit sponsor, and it was Nike before that, showing that Arsenal aren’t afraid to mix it up.

3 Manchester United, Adidas

Value per year: £90m

What’s been remarkable about Manchester United in their post-Sir Alex Ferguson years, has been their ability to perform fantastically commercially despite their abject displays on the pitch. As per Forbes, although they have not won the Premier League since 2012/13, they are the second most valuable team in the world – behind only Real Madrid.

Being such a huge global brand understandably attract plenty of sponsorship offers. Couple this with the fact that they are playing in the most-watched football division, and arguably the best, in the world, and it makes sense that the Red Devils are near the top of this list.

What’s more, with their 10-year Adidas contract is one of the newest on the list – not set to kick in until 2025 – it makes sense that they have the best terms right now. The way things are going though, by the time the £90.6m-per-season deal ends in 2035, that might not look like quite so much when compared to other teams who would have renewed more recently.

2 Barcelona, Nike

Value per year: £100m

As mentioned before, Barcelona are currently with Nike but have been flirting with the idea of a switch to Puma. On their present deal, which runs until 2024, they are making a generous £100m per year, but this could nearly exponentially if all parties can strike fresh terms.

What’s more, Puma has said they will offer a bonus if they can get out of their contract with Nike. But the American company believes they will incur losses of £300m if Barcelona walk away in the coming months, so have little incentive to let this play out.

On the pitch, despite winning La Liga in 2022/23, things have looked a little precarious, forcing Xavi to hand in his notice. Hansi Flick has injected a layer of energy into their play with them looking to battle it out for the Spanish top tier crown once again.

1 Real Madrid, Adidas

Value per year: £110m

If you’re judging sponsorship revenue from how much they pay a team every 12 months, Real Madrid storm the list as Adidas give them a whopping £110m per season to be worn on the front of that famous white shirt. And that makes sense given the magnitude of Los Blancos as a global conglomerate.

The German company and the Spanish giants have been working together since 1998 – incidentally, this is for as long as football rivals Barca have worked with sportswear rivals Nike. In this time, Madrid have made themselves the kings of Europe time and time again. They completed “La Decima” in the 2013-2014 season, becoming the first team to win 10 Champions League trophies.