Manchester City sign huge kit deal with Puma

Premier League champions Manchester City have removed Nike as their sponsors next season replacing it with Germany company Puma in a long-term deal that will affect four other City Football Group teams.

Reports suggest that the deal is worth around £65 million a year and will last 10 years from the start of the next footballing season.

This deal will be the second-most lucrative deal in the Premier League, behind rivals Manchester United who have a reportedly £75m a year deal with Adidas. Chelsea’s recent £60m a year deal with Nike lands in third position.

The sponsorship will cover all tiers of City football club as men’s, women’s and even the youth team will all wear Puma gear starting from July 2019.

The other clubs in the CFG’s deal with the retail giant include Australia’s Melbourne City, La Liga side Girona, Uruguay based Club Atletico Torque and newly acquired Sichuan Jiunjiu.

Bjorn Gulden, chief executive at Puma called it “the biggest deal his firm had ever done.”

Continuing on Mr Gulden said:

“We are very excited to partner with City Football Group, whose success, ambition and drive for innovation has seen them setting new standards, on and off the field.”

We look forward to building the most innovative partnership in football by redefining the sports partnership model both on and off the pitch. We want to maximise on-field performance as well as football culture, in areas such as music, gaming and fashion to connect and inspire the fanbase of each team.”

Ferran Soriano, boss of the club’s holding company City Football Group (CFG), gave a statement to Manchester City’s website:

“Our relationship with PUMA, covering five City Football Group clubs across four continents, will reset the model for sports partnerships on a truly global scale whilst being locally relevant and authentic for fans around the world. PUMA share our vision for challenging expectations, and we are looking forward to what we believe will be a ground-breaking partnership.”

The first time the Manchester-based club will wear their new kit will be on their pre-season tour of Asia this summer, where they will travel to both China and Japan.

However, the main attraction in the CFG will not be wearing it first as Sichuan Jiuniu who only were only acquired eight days ago will wear their Puma shirt when they kick off against Jiangsu Yancheng Dingli F.C. in the Chinese FA Cup.

Puma have also announced that they will be launching a special 125th anniversary kit next season which has been designed in collaboration with City fans.

Both Yokohama F. Marinos and New York City are not included as part of the deal as they have a deal with Adidas currently standing, and both agreed to continue with their partnership.

This deal moves Puma up the footballing market as they look to expand on their already impressive European clientele. They already have deals with Marseille, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan.