In an era of Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR), football clubs have an obligation to make as much money as they possibly can. That enables them to shell out eye-popping transfer fees and salaries while still, attempting to, balancing the books with revenues generated.
So credit to Manchester City, who not content with having the entire wealth of the Kingdom of the UAE behind them, have just scored the largest kit deal in Premier League history. Puma, their erstwhile chums in manufacturing, will shell out a cool £1 billion for the privilege…
Getting Shirty
🚨 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Manchester City’s kit deal with Puma could eventually be worth £1 Billion. 🤑
The agreement will be running until at least 2034/35 and valued at £100M a season. 💷
📰 via @TyMarshall_MEN pic.twitter.com/jFHgGwYBMz
— City HQ (@City_HQs) July 15, 2025
The link-up between Manchester City and the German sportswear firm got underway in 2019, with Puma paying the Cityzens £65 million a year to wear their branded playing kit and training gear. Although lucrative at the time, that £65 million per season has since been surpassed by deals signed by Arsenal and Manchester United – hence why City were so keen to renegotiate their agreement with Puma.
The new contract will add ten years to their partnership at a cost of £100 million per season… which means that the Cityzens will trouser a rather cool £1 billion from the revised terms. That’s goods news for them – particularly viewed through the prism of PSR, while Puma themselves are chipper with the deal. Their chief executive, Arthur Hoeld, said: “Puma’s partnership with Manchester City has been a great success both on and off the pitch.”
Depending on whose data you believe, the Cityzens are either the fifth or sixth most supported club globally, with around 70% of their worldwide fanbase said to have purchased a piece of City merchandise during the 2024/25 season.
They also have a ‘brand value’ of £1.3 billion second only to Real Madrid, so perhaps Puma are looking at the long game by stumping up such a sizable amount of cash. Curiously, their consolidated net income in 2023 was just £262 million, so they are going to be shelling out a huge resource each year with the City deal.
And should the club face enforced relegation with the 115 charges still hanging over their head, it could be a catastrophic disaster for them and for Puma alike.
Global Brands
One of the curious things about kit sponsorship and manufacturing deals is that their size is not always intrinsically linked to a club’s success on the pitch.
Adidas
Take Manchester United, for example. Prior to City’s renewed deal with Puma, their Mancunian rivals were the most marketable club in English football as far as their own kit deal was concerned. The Red Devils are trousering £90 million per season from their deal with Adidas, despite the fact that they are seemingly now more likely to get relegated from the Premier League than win it.
Their agreement with the German sportswear brand was extended in 2023 for a further decade, meaning that over the course of the contract Adidas will fork out a cool £900 million to sponsor a club whose performances on the pitch have become something of a meme for underwhelming under achievement. But off the pitch? Don’t doubt United’s commercial pull.
Even in these dog days, they are valued at just shy of £5 billion by Forbes, with annual revenues in the region of £620 million. And then there’s a global fanbase, which in one poll saw Man United rank as the third most supported club on the planet – ahead of their British rivals and behind only Real Madrid and Barcelona. Those are just some of the reasons why Adidas are so keen to partner with the Red Devils and pay them handsomely for doing so… despite United’s woes on the pitch.
The other major sponsorship deals in the Premier League are more closely linked to on-field success. Arsenal pull in £75 million per season from their own deal with Adidas, which over the course of the eight-year term amounts to £600 million. And Liverpool, the reigning Premier League champions, pull in £60 million per season from their deal with the ever-prolific Adidas.
Nike
One club that might be agitating for a new manufacturing deal in the near future is Chelsea. They currently earn £60 million a year from Nike in an agreement that is set to run until 2031. However, the Blues are the newly anointed Club World Cup champions… and they may want to be recognised as such financially in a deal that puts them on a par with the two Manchester outfits.
Are Barcelona and Real Madrid the World’s Most Popular Football Clubs?
It might be said, anecdotally at least, that the English Premier League is the most popular domestic football competition on the planet. It’s certainly the most watched, anyway, although such viewership hasn’t necessarily translated to popularity on a global scale. In fact, depending on who you believe, the two most supported clubs on the planet aren’t even English at all.
If you go on holiday to overseas climes, you’re more likely to see people wearing Real Madrid shirts than that of any other club – most measures of such things agree that the Galacticos are the most supported team in world football. That’s partly because they win lots of trophies – that always help to win over previously undecided fans, as well as having that ‘Galacticos’ vibe that sees them hoover up some of the most famous players on the planet. So how do you monetise being the most popular club around? Simple: you charge an eye-watering amount to anyone wishing to manufacture your playing kit.
When they penned their deal with Adidas back in 2019, Real demanded £110 million per season. The nine-year contract runs out in 2028, by which time they will have trousered £990 million for their troubles. The only club that can match Real Madrid for global popularity is their La Liga rivals, Barcelona. One YouGov poll found that Barca were more popular with some UK football fans than the vast majority of Premier League sides; a notion that is replicated around the world.
The upshot? A manufacturing deal with Nike at £105 million per season, which will net the Catalan club £1.4 billion over the course of the 14-year contract.
