The Mannschaft will continue competing with the three stripes as its partner.
Adidas, which has been outfitting German national teams for more than 60 years, said it has extended its sponsorship deal with the DFB, or German Football Association, until 2022.
“We belong together because we have gone through highs and lows, through good and bad times, for more than 60 years now,” Herbert Hainer, the outgoing CEO of the Herzogenaurach, Germany-based sporting goods company, told journalists during a press conference Monday. “We belong together because we both … symbolize what Made in Germany is all about: We are successful, we are innovative, and we deliver top quality. We are open-minded, multicultural, and we bring joy.”
Hainer said part of the long-term deal would be to bring production back to Germany, which would include the manufacturing of German national team jerseys.
In a surprise comment, the top executive disclosed, “There has been a great deal of speculation about the amount we are paying the DFB. And so that you don’t have to continue speculating: The financial package we offered the DFB totals 50 million euros a year [or $56.4 million at current exchange].”
The amount is rumored to be twice as high as the previous figure.
Hainer, who is leaving the company in September, said he would have liked the deal to run beyond 2022. He leaves future negotiations to his successor as CEO, Kasper Rorsted.
Adidas, which is keen to regain market share from rival Nike, is billed as the global leader in soccer. Last week, the group said it was on track to reach record sales of 2.5 billion euros, or $2.8 billion, with football products this year, as it reaps the benefit of a radical overhaul of its offer.
This represents a double-digit increase from last year, when football sales totaled 2.2 billion euros, or $2.44 billion. The group posted total revenues of 16.92 billion euros, or $18.77 billion, in 2015.
“I am proud to report that our complete restart of the football-footwear business 12 months ago is paying off. We have gained market share in key markets, and our footwear offering is resonating well among our young target audience,” Hainer explained last week.
He also noted that Adidas football footwear was the leader in Western Europe’s Top 5markets in the first quarter of 2016, with a market share of 36 percent, ahead of archrival Nike, according to NPD Consumer Panel data. The company did not provide comparative figures for 2015.
DFB president Reinhard Grindel lauded Adidas for supporting the association with upcoming innovations such as the construction of the new DFB academy or the further development of fussball.de. “We will use the money to make the DFB and German football even better. Our investments will be focused on both professional football and the work done at the grassroots level. We will also strengthen our national associations and further improve in particular our talent-promotion programs,” he said.
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