Adidas has agreed an investment of €100million (£87m, $116.8m) into the Bundesliga, which governs the top two divisions of German football.
The German sportswear manufacturer has confirmed the deal, intended to support the growth of the leagues and the development of its 36 member clubs.
The investment will be used to support the league’s central marketing objectives and allocated according to agreements between the executive board of the Deutsche Fussball-Liga (DFL), who operate the two leagues.
Additionally, while Adidas have an existing agreement to start supplying the match ball for the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga from the 2026-27 season onwards on a deal due to run until 2030, that deal has now been extended until 2034.
DFL president Hans-Joachim Watzke, the former Borussia Dortmund CEO, has described the partnership as “significant” for the Bundesliga.
“Adidas and the DFL will jointly contribute to a positive future for German professional football,” Watzke said, confirming the agreement. “The financing model offers an important option for investing in the growth of the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga in economically dynamic times. It is a model signal beyond football that the shared goal of further development is at the centre here.”
Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden was similarly optimistic and spoke of the company’s historically “close ties” to German football.
“That is why we are committed to play an active role in shaping the future of the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga through innovation, reliability, and long-term commitment, both on and off the pitch,” he said.
What impact will this have on the Bundesliga?
These are not funds that will be used to support transfer ambitions or anything similar. Instead, the aim will be to support long-term growth initiatives, which allow the league and its clubs to develop and compete outside Germany.
Football is by far Germany’s most popular sport and that’s reflected in the strength of the Bundesliga’s domestic broadcasting contract, which is the second most valuable in European football (behind England’s Premier League). However, without the same number of stars and with a product value rooted in regionality and atmosphere, international expansion has been tougher.
In response, while the DFL already subsidises clubs willing to tour internationally, many teams — dissuaded by the cost and the level of competition in major markets — have been reluctant to take up that offer.
Bayern Munich have won 13 of the most recent 14 Bundesliga titles (Alexandra Beier / AFP via Getty Images)
While Bayern routinely tour and have an enormous international following in Asia and North America, and Dortmund have played many international friendlies, Bundesliga clubs do not command the same interest as the Premier League’s biggest teams and are not supported by the same wealth. Strategically, touring or allocating resources to international growth is comparatively riskier and harder to justify.
This investment will not entirely solve that problem or redress the many inequities at work, but it will be used to create more incentives and to support international activation around domestic games, which will help promote the Bundesliga as a brand.
What is in it for Adidas?
The choice of partner makes plenty of sense. Adidas is a German company with a multinational presence and a deep understanding of international markets. The manufacturer owns 8.33 per cent of Bayern Munich, is a long-term sponsor of the German champions, and also supplies the kits of some of the biggest clubs in the country, including Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburg and Schalke.
For seven decades, Adidas was also the supplier for the German national team. That agreement will end in 2027, when Nike begin a seven-year deal that has provoked plenty of controversy.
Adidas will see this as an opportunity to replace its investment in German football and support clubs and a competition in which they have a vested interest.
How will fans respond?
However, expect some negativity in response. In 2023, the DFL provisionally agreed to tender part of its marketing rights to a group of private equity firms. The proposal won the support of clubs and was voted through with a majority, but ultimately had to be abandoned after a backlash from supporters.
German football fans have a deep, entrenched distrust of commercialism and their protests, such as disrupting games by throwing tennis balls onto the pitch, were so sustained that the investor deal was eventually abandoned.
Adidas may be a more palatable partner than a private equity firm, but there will still be suspicion. The finances of that aborted investor deal were far greater, but it was conceived for many of the same reasons — with the aim of supporting international development and infrastructural improvements — meaning that, initially at least, it may be viewed with distrust by more traditional fans.