10 Most Lucrative Kit Manufacturer Deals in Football

In brief
After splitting with Nike starting in the 2025–2026 season, Liverpool signed a lucrative new contract with former shirt producers Adidas.
Barcelona, on the other hand, has renewed their contract with Nike.
Arsenal’s recent six-year deal with Adidas, which is valued at £75 million annually, is indicative of their progress under Mikel Arteta.
The reality of contemporary football is that off-field activities are almost as significant as on-field events. Even if your team has the best players in the world, they won’t stay with you for very long if the club is operated like a circus.

Consider Lionel Messi. In 2021, the best player in the history of the sport finally left Barcelona since the Spanish powerhouses lacked the remaining wage funds to extend his contract. The Catalan team has made a lot of changes in the years since, but their financial situation is still concerning.

This could be the reason they were on the verge of quitting Nike, who have sponsored their uniforms since 1998, but a new agreement was struck to bring the two sides back together in the midst of the team’s success under Hansi Flick. However, they are not the only club that is doing all in their power to become a corporate powerhouse again. According to Mail Online and other sources, we have written about the top ten football shirt sponsorship deals.

10Tottenham Hotspur, Nike

Value per year: £30m

Take a moment to concentrate on their sponsorship income rather than their cutting-edge stomping ground. Despite spending a staggering £30 million annually on their Nike uniforms, Tottenham Hotspur is still well behind its competitors.

The north London-based team signed a 15-year contract with Nike in 2018, which gives them the sole right to design and manufacture their uniforms until at least 2033. The partnership is presently six years old. Even though Ange Postecoglou has made some progress on the pitch, they still have a long way to go before they can compete with teams like Manchester United and Arsenal.

9Bayern Munich, Adidas

Value per year: £42.5m

It’s difficult to picture a Bayern Munich shirt without the Adidas logo, whether it’s an Essential or Treefoil style. After all, their relationship began in 1974, when the Bavarian team first wore a sponsor on their chest. Since then, many victories have followed. In fact, Bayern has won the Bundesliga every season since 2012–13, with the exception of 2023–24. Given their legendary history and such consistency, it’s no surprise that Adidas has signed a long-term contract with them that will begin in 2015 and run for 15 years, at a cost of £42.5 million annually.

8Juventus, Adidas

Value per year: £46m

Juventus won the Serie A without any opposition from their fellow top flight teams from the 2011–12 season till the 2019–20 campaign. When Adidas signed an eight-year contract with the Italian powerhouses in 2019, this probably had an impact. Regretfully for both sides, Juventus’ best finish since then has been fourth.

Due to ‘false accounting’ about previous transfer transactions, they received a 10-point ban and even went as low as ninth in 2022–2023. As a result of their breach of UEFA’s financial criteria, they were disqualified from the Europa Conference League and failed to qualify for either the Champions League or the Europa League. But now that they’re back at the top table in Europe, their kit supplier will be happy.

7Chelsea, Nike

Value per year: £60m

It’s difficult to discuss owner Todd Boehly without considering long-term agreements. After all, the American was the driving force behind giving contracts to Nicolas Jackson, Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, and Enzo Fernandez that expire at least in 2031.

However, the current contract between Chelsea and Nike was inked in 2016 and dates back to the time of Roman Abramovich. With the Blues earning £60 million year, the second-highest fee of any London team, the 15-year contract will see the partnership last until at least 2032.

In the nine years since the agreement was made, neither party probably anticipated this level of upheaval. They have had numerous managers and ownership changes over that time, but at least they have won the Champions League during that time.

6Liverpool, Adidas

Value per year: £60m

In 2020, the Reds were among the most exciting clubs in the world when they inked a five-year contract with Nike worth £30 million every season. After all, they had already won the Premier League a year after winning the Champions League in 2018–19. All of this was planned by manager Jurgen Klopp, but many people thought the club’s finances might have suffered as a result of his decision to leave at the end of the 2023–24 campaign.

Adidas is interested in the club because Arne Slot has made it a championship-winning team once again. According to the Guardian, the Reds inked a five-year contract worth an estimated £60 million annually in 2025, trading Nike for Adidas. The possibility of receiving a portion of the sales of LFC/Adidas clothing is included in this arrangement, which might increase its value even more.

5Arsenal, Adidas

Value per year: £75m

Adidas and Arsenal have one of the newest contracts. They are among the most paid teams in terms of annual compensation, ranking fourth with a £75 million fixed salary, which is understandable given that it only started in 2024.

They only have a six-year contract, though, thus the total only places them eighth out of 10. Under Mikel Arteta, the team appears to be on the rise, contending for Premier League crowns once more and returning to the Champions League.

Given this, it makes reasonable that Adidas has raised their payment, which was previously estimated to be around £300 million spread over five years, to £450.78 million spread over six. Arsenal isn’t scared to switch things up; their previous jersey sponsor was Puma, and before that it was Nike.

4Manchester United, Adidas

Value per year: £90m

In spite of their terrible performances on the pitch, Manchester United has proven to be incredibly successful commercially in the years following Sir Alex Ferguson. Despite not winning the Premier League since 2012–13, Forbes claims that they are the second most valuable team in the world, only surpassed by Real Madrid.

Being such a well-known worldwide brand naturally draws many sponsorship opportunities. It makes sense that the Red Devils are near the top of this list when you combine this with the fact that they are competing in the most watched—and possibly the best—football division in the world.

It also makes sense that they have lucrative terms at the moment because their 10-year Adidas contract is among the newest on the list, with no start date until 2025. However, if current trends continue, that could not seem like much when compared to other teams that would have renewed more recently by the time the £90.6 million-per-season contract expires in 2035.

3Manchester City, Puma

Value per year: £100m

Manchester City is Puma’s largest customer after losing out on Barcelona. However, the English team is representing the brand effectively after winning the treble in 2022–2023 under the leadership of Pep Guardiola, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and others.

A contract was reached in 2019 that will see City earn £65 million annually for ten years. A record-breaking £1 billion kit agreement, worth an incredible £100 million annually until 2035, was agreed in 2025, extending their cooperation.

2Barcelona, Nike

Value per year: £105m

As previously stated, Barcelona has been considering switching to Puma but is now with Nike. They were earning a healthy £100 million annually under their previous contract, which ended in 2024, but the startling new terms have caused their shares to soar.

Joan Laporta, the president of the club, even stated that he was eager to terminate the collaboration after calling the prior arrangement “less than ideal.” However, according to Mundo Deportivo, Nike has made a number of concessions to maintain the partnership. The new agreement, which is estimated to be worth £1.4 billion ($1.82 billion) over 14 years, or £105 million ($136 million) annually, will be the highest-paid sponsorship arrangement in sport. In addition, La Blaugrana will get a £131 million signing bonus as part of the long-term agreement.

1Real Madrid, Adidas

Value per year: £110m

Adidas gives Real Madrid an incredible £110 million a season to be worn on the front of that iconic white shirt, so if you’re measuring sponsorship revenue by how much a team is paid every 12 months, they top the list. And considering the size of Los Blancos as a multinational corporation, that makes sense.

The German business and the Spanish behemoths have been collaborating since 1998, which is also how long rival football team Barca has been collaborating with rival apparel manufacturer Nike. Madrid has repeatedly established themselves as the European rulers during this period. They became the first team to win ten Champions League trophies after finishing “La Decima” in the 2013–2014 season.

Football’s Most Profitable Kit Deals

Rank

Club

Sponsor

Duration of Contract

Value by Season

1.

Real Madrid

Adidas

2019–2028

£110 million

2.

Barcelona

Nike

2025–2039

£105m (signing bonus of £131m)

3.

City of Manchester

The Puma

2025–2035

£100 million

4.

United Manchester

Adidas

2023–2035

£90 million

5.

The Arsenal

Adidas

2022–2030

£75 million

6.

Liverpool

Adidas

2025–2030

£60 million

7.

Chelsea

Nike

2016–2031

£60 million

8.

Juventus

Adidas

2019–2027

£46 million

9.

The Bayern Munich

Adidas

2015–2030

£42.5 million

10.

Tottenham Hotspur

Nike

2018–2030

£30 million