Brazil has had a deal with Nike to be the nation’s kit manufacturer since 1996, with the first yellow kit featuring the Swoosh at the 1997 Copa America. Their partnership has built upon what is arguably the most iconic kit in international soccer. Think back to the 1998 and 2002 World Cups when Brazil reached and won the Final, respectively. The yellow kit stood out, and Nike played a role in helping its identity.
However, the agreement between the two may be coming to an end. Competing kit manufacturers are ready to pay more money than Nike to produce Brazil’s national team kits. Currently, Nike is paying $35 million to Brazil each year. However, Brazilian outlet UOL says competitors are ready to pay $197 million for the ability to produce Selecao kits. The company that offered the deal is either Adidas or Puma, but UOL could not decipher which offered such a high fee.
That fee is over five times higher than the deal Nike has used with Brazil in the current contract. Plus, the deal that either Adidas or Puma is offering includes several changes to the current deal with Nike. The biggest of those is royalties on shirt sales. Currently, Nike does not provide any of the sales that it makes on shirt sales for the Brazilian Federation. The CBF has asked Nike to add this to their current contract to meet the standard that clubs exhibit in Brazil. Nike denied this request, and that has pushed Brazil to find a new manufacturer.
Additionally, the new shirt deal would have a stipulation that the kit manufacturer must set up stores to promote sales. In many ways, Nike has not been proactive in building on the massive Brazil brand. Adidas and Puma, at least based on the offer, would be a major jump for Brazil.
Kit manufacturers have been a point of discussion recently, as some of the biggest brands in soccer have changed as to who produces kits. The biggest change was Germany losing its deal with Adidas after Nike offered more money. Adidas had been creating Germany’s kits since 1950, and the shirts worn in the 2026 World Cup will be the last from the Adidas umbrella.
That money may play a role if it is Adidas offering more money to the Brazil Federation to produce kits. However, Adidas turned some of those savings around immediately by winning the manufacturing rights to be Liverpool’s kit provider. There was no indication as to how much Adidas paid for the Liverpool kit responsibility. However, it is more than $50 million per year.
With Adidas far more spread out than Puma, Brazil would be another addition to Puma’s international collective. At the World Cup in 2022, six teams wore Puma kits. That included Morocco, Uruguay and Ghana. Puma recently lost the Italy manufacturing job. Therefore, it may be ready to take on another major team like Brazil. Puma’s 10-year deal with Manchester City, which it signed in 2019, was worth $860 million.
PHOTOS: IMAGO
