At first glance, it looked like just another sky-blue jersey unveiling. But the number behind Manchester City‘s new kit deal with Puma is anything but ordinary.
The Premier League champions have signed a blockbuster extension with the German sportswear brand worth £1 billion over ten years. That’s £100 million per year until 2035, making it the most lucrative kit contract in English football history. This eye-popping agreement not only eclipses the club’s previous £65 million-a-year deal with Puma but also surpasses the £900 million, 10-year partnership that Manchester United inked with Adidas in 2023.
In a sport where even the biggest clubs once viewed a £100 million transfer fee as extravagant, City have now secured double that amount annually just for the right to put a Puma logo on their shirts.
Such a record-breaking deal speaks to both Manchester City‘s on-field success and the shifting economics of the modern game. Since first teaming with Puma in 2019, City have dominated domestically and abroad. They won four straight Premier League titles and a historic treble in 2022–23, achievements that have supercharged the club’s global profile.
The return on that success is now evident off the pitch. “We joined forces with PUMA with the ambition to challenge ourselves and go beyond the expectations. We have achieved this and more over the last six seasons,” said Ferran Soriano, chief executive of City Football Group, celebrating the renewed partnership.
Arthur Hoeld, Puma’s CEO, was equally upbeat, calling City “a great success both on and off the pitch” and “a perfect stage for our performance products” that delivered “exceptional” results. In other words, the club’s trophy haul and swelling fanbase have made it the kind of global billboard that justifies a ten-figure investment.
To put City’s new agreement in perspective, one need only compare it to other mega-deals in football. In the Premier League, the next closest contract is United’s Adidas pact, averaging roughly £90 million a year. Liverpool, another global powerhouse, recently traded a bonus-heavy Nike arrangement for a straightforward Adidas kit contract worth about £60 million per season.
Beyond England, the numbers climb even higher. Real Madrid‘s long-term partnership with Adidas is believed to earn the Spanish club around €120 million annually. Barcelona ratified a massive new Nike agreement in late 2024, reportedly exceeding €100 million per year. Paris Saint-Germain can also boast a hefty Nike (Jordan Brand) deal at roughly €80 million annually.
| Club | Supplier | Value (Duration) | Annual Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | Puma | £1.0 billion (10 yr) | £100 million/yr |
| Manchester United | Adidas | £900 million (10 yr) | £90 million/yr |
| Real Madrid | Adidas | €1.1 billion (10 yr) | €120 million/yr |
| FC Barcelona | Nike | €1.7 billion (14 yr) | >€100 million/yr |
| Paris Saint-Germain | Nike | €1.0 billion (12 yr) | €80 million/yr |
Puma’s big bet, City’s bigger boost
For Puma, locking down Manchester City for the next decade is about more than bragging rights. It’s a statement of intent in its competition with industry titans Nike and Adidas. Those two giants have long dominated the sportswear market, with Puma often a distant third.
Securing the reigning European champions is Puma’s way of closing that gap. Hoeld praised the partnership in trophy terms: “Trophies, a perfect stage for our performance products and commercial success were exceptional,” he said of the first six years with City.
Puma is betting that City’s continued success will shine a global spotlight on its logo, driving kit sales and boosting the brand’s prestige in ways advertising cannot. It’s a significant financial gamble, but the potential upside is capturing market share from its competitors by aligning with a club at the peak of its powers.
For Manchester City, the deal is a major victory in the boardroom that could have ripple effects on the field. The club’s commercial revenue will swell further, allowing more funds to be reinvested in talent and infrastructure.
Under UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, clubs must keep spending in line with income. City’s executives have long chased global partnerships to ensure their success is sustainable. An extra £35 million per year from Puma—moving from £65 million to £100 million—goes a long way toward balancing the books.
It gives City greater leeway in player wages and transfers while staying within cost-control limits. After years of scrutiny over allegedly inflated sponsorships, City can point to this Puma windfall as evidence that their business growth is keeping pace with on-pitch success at fair market rates.
The news of City’s £1 billion kit bonanza has, unsurprisingly, fueled lively debate among supporters and pundits. Rival fans joked that City have “like 4 fans” to buy all those shirts, and some cynically suggested the owners had “figured out another loophole,” implying Puma might be overpaying to curry favor.
But many City supporters and analysts see a different story: a fast-growing global following and a brand at the pinnacle of the sport. City’s shirt sales in the U.S. are now behind only United and Liverpool among Premier League clubs, and still rising.
In short, Puma isn’t signing a charity check. It’s investing in the current and future worldwide appeal of the City brand.
Ultimately, Manchester City’s new kit deal is about ambition—from a club that has risen from also-ran to elite in little more than a decade, and from a sportswear challenger determined to shake up the hierarchy.
A billion pounds over ten years is a staggering sum that underscores the new financial reality of top-tier football. It also reflects City and Puma’s belief that the club’s sky-blue shirt will increase in value as the trophies keep coming.
