The Italian national football team and Puma are increasingly united. The German sports brand, owned by the French luxury holding company Ppr, has in fact strengthened and extended its partnership with the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), with a new contract that will bind him to the blue champions at least until 2018.
In this period of time, the national team will play two editions of the European Championships (in June in Poland-Ukraine and in 2016 in France) and two World Cups, in Brazil in two years and in Russia in 2018.
However, Puma will not limit itself to supplying official shirts to Pirlo and his companions, but now will also manage the license portfolio of the Federation in its entirety and on a global scale, becoming a "master licensee". More than a technical sponsorship, therefore, in an attempt to accelerate the climb to world leadership in sports supply.
Puma is currently the third largest sports lifestyle brand globally, behind Adidas and Nike. The gap to fill is still large: Adidas counts on a turnover of 17 billion euros, while the Germans, hoping for good results from Prandelli's men, have set a target of 4 billion euros in 2015.
However, the agreement with Italy is not the only one: Puma is moving on several fronts, and recently signed a new partnership with the South African Football Association (SAFA) and expanded its collaboration with the Swiss Football Association (SFV).
