The merchandising of football clubs in Europe is growing, but Italy is losing ground and is increasingly bringing up the rear among the five major leagues, being overtaken by France. And, always among the 98 clubs of the top five tournaments, Nike surpasses – for the first time since 2010 – Adidas in terms of sponsorship, even if the German brand, official partner of the biggest events (World Cup and Champions League) is preparing the counter-move for 2015/16.
These are the two main pieces of news that emerge from the European Football Kit Supplier Report 2014 produced by the French company Repucom: 13 million shirts were sold last season (+14% compared to 11,3 million in 2011-12) of Premier League teams (leading with 5,14 million), Liga (3,10 million), Bundesliga (2,32 million) and Ligue 1 (1,22 1,18 million), which thanks to the PSG of the sheikhs does even better than Serie A, last with only 2,6 million shirts sold, in the presence of a continental average of XNUMX.
Italy, in a decidedly difficult moment for the movement as a whole, therefore also loses the battle of merchandising, which instead represents an increasingly important revenue item around Europe, in particular in the winning German model, which aims without distinction on everything: not only stadiums and TV rights, but also youth sectors and precisely marketing. Where the Italian clubs, Juve aside, now cling almost exclusively to the money of the TVs and the sale of the big shots to raise cash and sometimes (rarely) reinvest in young players, sometimes (more often) in waste from other leagues. And it matters little if among the 5 respective top clubs of Nike and Adidas (for which the two brands spend respectively and overall 125 and 135 million euros), however three teams from the boot appear: Inter and Juventus equipped by the Americans, the Milan from the Germans.
In fact, the merchandising war is inflamed also and above all among the sponsors: Adidas currently dominates the world market (which it shares with Nike up to 70 % overall) with 36% of the share, has a turnover of 15 billion euros (20 billion that of the US mustache) and is the official partner of the most important events such as the World Cup (where it placed two teams in the final, including the winning "home" team) and the Champions League. Not forgetting that the hit of the summer, James Rodriguez at Real Madrid, it's all Adidas, and in just an hour after signing he made the blancos earn more than 90 thousand euros by selling 900 shirts in 60 minutes (15 per minute!).
Despite this, starting next season, for the first time since 2009-2010, Nike will win over more clubs among the 98 of the five major championships: 26 against 18 (never had the gap of shirts been so wide in favor of one of the two), with Puma stops at 9, even if the second German brand has made a big hit by joining a top club like Arsenal for the monstrous sum of 180 million euros in five years. An important but miserable figure compared to the amount allocated by Adidas to make the counter-overtake in the 2015-16 season, subtracting two very important clubs such as Manchester United and Juventus from the competition. Especially the offer for the Red Devils, who currently take the beauty of 31 million a season from Nike, caused a sensation: 94 million euros a year for ten years! To which must be added the approximately 24 to be allocated to Juventus: crumbs, definitely, but certainly more than the 19 currently guaranteed by their US rivals.
Bringing home Manchester United, the top shirt-selling club in the world, Adidas will thus consolidate its presence on the British market, which, as demonstrated by the data, is clearly the most profitable and he is also the only one in which he has already resisted Nike's assault by keeping 5 teams (the mustache is third with three, Puma with 4). In all the other top leagues, Nike has obtained the leadership and will keep it: in Italy it will lose Juve but it currently has 5 clubs against 1 from Adidas, in Spain, in addition to Barcelona, it has 5 other teams, against 4 Adidas (which however has the Real…), and also reaches 6 in France (with PSG included) and Germany, where, however, he leaves Bayern to his rivals. A war on the last shirt sold, in which, however, Italy plays a marginal role.
