The German Football Association has made a historic decision for the future and for its national teams

Un véritable coup de tonnerre pour le football allemand. GES-Sportfoto – Thomas Eisenhuth

Thunderclap in German football: the National Football Federation (DFB) announced Thursday, March 21, that it had signed a partnership contract with the American giant Nike for the period 2027 to 2034, putting an end to more of 70 years of loyalty to Adidas.

Nike will equip "all DFB national teams and promote German football in its entirety", announced the DFB in a press release. Nike presented "by far the best economical offer" the amount of which has not been revealed, 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 Mr. Blask.

Linked since 1954

The shock is enormous for the brand with the three stripes whose history is linked to the epic of the Mannschaft since 1954 and of which it is the historic equipment supplier.< /p>

The Adidas group, whose contract with the DFB runs until the end of 2026, laconically 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”, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said in the statement.

During Euro-2024 (June 14 – July 14) which will be played in Germany, the Mannschaft will set up its base camp near Adidas headquarters , in Herzogenaurach in the south of the country, and will play with the equipment manufacturer's jerseys which were presented a week ago.

Farewell after the 2026 World Cup

Host country, Germany, which will be entitled to the colors of its flag on one of the kits, and to a pink away jersey, which has already attracted a lot of comments.

Der Deutsche Fußball Bund wird ab 2027 bis 2034 eine Ausrüstungspartnerschaft mit der Nike Inc eingehen. 🤝👕 Nike wird alle Nationalmannschaften des #DFB ausrüsten und den deutschen Fußball in seiner Gänze fördern.
Zur Meldung ➡️ https://t.co/GbXWT116Pr pic.twitter.com/AegbB0kswF

— DFB (Verband) (@DFB) March 21, 2024

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, worth four stars flocked on the Adidas jersey.

Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas, personally screwed on the studs of German striker Fritz Walter before the 1954 World Cup final won against the formidable Hungary and entered the legend as the & ;quot;miracle of Berne.

Nike had several times tried to win the prestigious contract from the German to equip the German national teams. Adidas was able to proudly announce in 2016 that it had spent more than 50 million euros per year for 4 years to keep it, twice as much as the previous amount.

During the extension of the contract until 2026, announced in 2018 after a pitiful elimination of the German team from the World Cup in Russia, the two players agreed not to reveal no amount regarding their agreement.

In the red

Nike, initially popular in basketball with icons like Michael Jordan, has long since arrived in football.

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. Nike dresses the Blues until 2026 by bringing in 50 million euros per year to the French Football Federation.

The loss of the contract with Germany comes at a bad time for Adidas, which has been accumulating setbacks for two years and announced last week its first annual loss since 1992. In addition to sluggish sales in several markets, including North America, Adidas broke off a lucrative collaboration with controversial rapper Kanye West in October 2022, criticized for anti-Semitic comments. The group has since been looking for solutions to sell the thousands of shoes that made this partnership a success.