Nike officially replaces Adidas as Chinese national football partner

picture from the web

By Yutang Sports

On 3 January, China Football Association officially assured the news of sponsor change, holding a meeting with President of Chinese Football Industry Development Corp. which is in charge of market affairs for Chinese national football teams. Nike became the new sponsor of Chinese national football teams from this year, after Adidas.

According to reports, Nike’s sponsorship fees will be more than RMB100 million each year, and the deal is over 10 years, perhaps 12 years as reported by some sources. Nike would provide about 30% of the deal by physical supplies, and rest by finance.

The men’s Chinese national football team which is preparing for 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia will change to Nike’s shirts from the next official game. Some new kits would be directly transported to Australia from around the world. Nike will reveal official shirt designs later.

In this deal, Nike will sponsor all seven national teams, including men’s and women’s national football teams, national Olympic team, and a few youth teams.

Adidas was a 30-year partner of Chinese national football teams. They had priority rights for renewal of the deal, and it was reported that they gave up renewing. It seemed that Adidas wanted to reduce their level of investment. The deal ended on 31 December, 2014.

Several international and domestic brands, such as Nike, Puma, and 361°, showed interest earlier in the second half of 2014.