Nike is doubling down on its commercial relationship with London City Lionesses.

Michele Kang’s Women’s Super League (WSL) club signed a first-of-its-kind multi-year front-of-shirt partnership with the sportswear company. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Portland-based company already serves as London City’s kit supplier through a partnership that began ahead of the club’s first season in the WSL. The expanded relationship will put the Nike name on the most valuable piece of commercial real estate on the Lionesses’ jersey. This is an unusual move for a company whose globally recognised logo occupies a significant space on jerseys but whose name never occupied the primary sponsorship position.

“There was a shared passion and vision,” Kang said. “London City is the only independent women’s team in what you could call the mecca of football, and there have been plenty of skeptics about whether a women-only club can survive. Nike believed in what we are building. The partnership reflects our shared vision for the future of women’s football and London City’s ambition to help shape it.”

While financial terms were not disclosed, Kang said the Nike deal exceeds the $4 million (£2.95 m) annual value of the NWSL’s Atlanta expansion franchise’s recent front-of-kit agreement with Aflac.

“The number is actually even higher than some of the Premier League men’s teams’ front-up shirt deals,” Kang said.  Atlanta’s seven-year, $28 million deal is believed to be the richest jersey sponsorship in women’s sports, an especially notable benchmark considering the club will not begin NWSL play until 2028.

“This isn’t just good for London City. It’s good for women’s football because it reflects the growing commercial value of the game,” Kang said. “Leading global brands increasingly see women’s football not as an add-on or side project, but as an important sporting and cultural property that can stand on its own. I hope our deal is quickly matched or surpassed. Atlanta did a great job, and I hope somebody comes along and surpasses us.”

For London City, the agreement is another significant commercial marker for a club that has transformed rapidly under Kang.

Kang acquired London City in December 2023, when the club was playing in England’s second division. The Lionesses earned promotion to the WSL at the end of the 2024-25 season, winning the Women’s Championship in Kang’s first full season as owner. That made London City the first fully independent women’s club (one without an affiliation to a men’s team) to reach the WSL.

London City is one of the clubs in Kang’s growing international soccer portfolio. Through Kynisca, the global women’s soccer organization she launched in 2024, Kang also owns the NWSL’s Washington Spirit and French women’s soccer powerhouse OL Lyonnes. Kynisca was established as a multi-club organization dedicated specifically to women’s soccer, with investments extending into performance, infrastructure, sports science and commercial development. Kang also invested $10 million in U.S. Soccer for women’s and girls’ programs and research into female athletes.

Kang ranks 28th on Forbes’ 2025 list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, worth an estimated $1.2 billion.

The Nike deal fits into Kang’s larger experiment: whether a women’s soccer organization built specifically around the women’s game can compete commercially and competitively with clubs backed by some of the world’s biggest men’s soccer brands.

“If we want to pay players what they’re worth, we have to generate revenue,” Kang said. “You can’t rely on charity checks. The business has to be sustainable, and that revenue flows back into player salaries, infrastructure and staff. It’s not about whether I have enough money — I don’t have unlimited money either. Everything has to stand on its own and be sustainable for years to come.”

Nike’s logo has previously appeared on the London City jersey as the kit-maker (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

London City’s sponsorship portfolio reflects that approach.

Last season, London City partnered with TOGETHXR, the women’s sports media and e-commerce company co-founded by Alex Morgan, Sue Bird and Chloe Kim. Its “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” slogan became the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor, marking the first time a company founded by female athletes had taken the primary jersey sponsorship of a professional women’s sports team.

The partnership also produced tangible commercial benefits. London City said its home and away shirts sold out in record time and required a second release, while the TOGETHXR partnership helped expand the club’s reach in the United States. The club later adapted “Everyone Watches London City” slogan for its third kit.

Nike has expanded its women’s sports portfolio in recent years. For the 2026-27 WSL season, Nike outfits five clubs, including Kang’s side with official on-pitch team kits.

“Women’s football is still in its infancy commercially, and there is a lot more investment that needs to happen,” Kang said. “There doesn’t have to be one business model. Clubs can be independent or part of a larger organization. But if the men’s team is the priority, bring in outside investment that can give the women’s team the resources and attention it needs to reach its full potential.

“Chelsea has done that, and Sunderland is doing that. We need more investment across women’s football.”