Bundesliga heavyweights RB Leipzig are ditching Nike for Puma next season. Starting this summer, new sponsors Puma will supply Leipzig footballers with new kits and apparel on a deal worth reportedly €100m.
Puma CEO Arne Freundt announced the sponsorship at a press conference on Tuesday. Leipzig follows Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Heidenheim as part of the sportswear company. Leipzig’s sister club Red Bull Salzburg, already inked a deal with Puma earlier this year.
Last July, Puma announced that Leipzig winger Xavi Simmons would be the new brand ambassador for Puma’s iconic KING line.
Is Nike losing its football luster?
RB Leipzig joins the list of clubs looking to break the Nike hegemony in global football. Even FC Barcelona is scoping out deals for its kits suppliers next season, with New Balance poised to take over Nike.
Barcelona‘s 25-year Nike partnership is the most lucrative in football, at $109 million per. Manchester United beat out that number when it signed up to Adidas in a $115.2 million deal this 23/24 season.
RB Leipzig’s new Puma doubles Nike’s decade-long €60 million partnership with the German side. Is Nike losing interest as a kit sponsor for major clubs or just being outbid? Even Adidas seems to be making cooler boots these days.
Photo: x/RBLeipzig
