English sides are Euro champions at selling shirts
ENGLAND’S football team may have lagged behind their Continental rivals at the World Cup, but in the lucrative replica shirt market they are Europe’s undisputed superpower.
Premier League clubs sold 5.1m shirts last season – more than those from the top divisions in Germany (2.3m), Italy (1.2m) and France (1.2m) combined, according to a report by consultancies Repucom and PR Marketing.
Spain was the second biggest market, with 3.1m units, as shirt sales across Europe’s top five leagues increased from 12.3m the previous season to 13m for 2013-14.
American sportswear giant Nike supplied 26 of 98 clubs from the top five leagues, overtaking German rival Adidas, which had 18 teams in its stable, for the first time in four years.
But Adidas’s presence was strongest in the ever-popular Premier League and their investment in their five biggest contracts was greater than equivalent deals in Nike’s portfolio.
Adidas spent €135m (£107m) over the season on sponsoring Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Marseille, while Nike paid Barcelona, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Inter Milan a combined €125m (£99m).
The German manufacturer looks likely to regain dominance next season when Manchester United join its roster in a record-breaking £75m per season contract, a huge increase on the club’s current £23.5m deal with Nike. Italian champions Juventus are also due to switch from Nike to Adidas in 2015-16.
Repucom’s Andrew Walsh said: “While Nike looks to maximise the number of teams it supplies, Adidas is going for the most popular, most followed and ultimately biggest selling clubs in the world.”