Football: the German selection switches from Adidas to Nike from 2027

The German Football Federation (DFB) announced Thursday that it had signed a partnership contract with the American giant Nike for the period 2027 to 2034, a blow for the German equipment manufacturer Adidas, which has been under contract with the Mannschaft for 70 years.

Nike will equip “all DFB national teams and promote German football in its entirety,” the statement said. Nike presented “by far the best economic offer” the amount of which was not communicated, according to the chairman of the board of directors of the Federation, Holger Blask. The American firm also “impressed with its vision, which also includes a clear commitment to the promotion of amateur and grassroots sports as well as the sustainable development of women's football in Germany,” according to Blask.

The shock is enormous for the brand with the three stripes whose history has been linked to the epic of the Mannschaft since 1954 and of which it is the historic equipment supplier. The Adidas group, whose contract with the DFB runs until the end of 2026, tersely confirmed its disgrace, indicating that it had been informed of the change of partner on Thursday. Until December 2026, the federation will do everything to “achieve joint success with (...) Adidas”, and German football “owes a lot” to Adidas “for more than seven decades”, declared Bernd Neuendorf, president of the DFB, in the press release.

During Euro-2024 (June 14 - July 14) which will be played in Germany, the Mannschaft will set up its base camp near the headquarters of Adidas, in Herzogenaurach in the south of the country, and will play with the jerseys of the equipment manufacturer which were presented a week ago. The 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will mark farewell to Adidas. The Mannschaft has four World Cups to its name, which are worth four stars flocked to the Adidas jersey. Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas, personally screwed on the crampons of German striker Fritz Walter before the World Cup final in 1954, which went down in legend as the “miracle of Berne”.

Nike had tried several times to win the prestigious contract from the German to equip the German national teams. Adidas had to pay more than 50 million euros per year for 4 years to keep it, twice as much as the previous amount. Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory, came to football a long time ago. The world leader in sporting goods has been equipping the Brazilian team since 1989, and won the contract with France in 2011, already dethroning Adidas.