Arsenal announce £150m Puma deal

Arsenal announce £150m Puma deal - Biggest in Europe

Modified Jan 27, 2014 15:40 GMT

Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis with Puma CEO Bjoern Gulden

Arsenal have today announced that effective from July 1, 2014, the official kit partner of Arsenal will be Puma.

Not only will Puma be producing the playing and training kit for all Arsenal teams, but they have also acquired wide-range licensing rights that enables them to develop Arsenal branded merchandise on a global level. This new deal reported to be close to or even exceeding £150m is the biggest deal in both of Arsenal’s and Puma’s history.

The deal, estimated to be worth £150m over 5 years was announced earlier today at the Emirates Stadium. The home kit is a traditional red and white, and Puma have played it clever with a yellow and blue away kit for their first season. A third kit will also be revealed, which is blue with a green trim, which Puma see as Arsenal’s ‘cup kit’ and is earmarked for fixtures in Europe and in both domestic cup competitions.

This deal marks an end to the 20-year-old partnership that Arsenal had with Nike for sponsoring the various Arsenal kits. Arsenal will be working with Puma to bring further innovation into sports brand’s performance apparel range.

Arsenal also presents PUMA with its most prominent platform to showcase performance products through its significant global fanbase, profile and reputation. PUMA had recently bolstered their portfolio with stellar names as Sergio Aguero, Cesc Fabregas, Mario Balotelli, Radamel Falcao, Olivier Giroud, Yaya Toure and more. They have also signed the 2013 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund.

Bjoern Gulden, chief executive officer for PUMA said: “Arsenal have been a key strategic target for PUMA for a number of years now. Through a clear commercial vision, a well-defined sports marketing strategy and a relentless enthusiasm within the PUMA organisation, we’re proud to have signed this partnership with a truly global football club.

“As we enter a new era in our company history, Arsenal represents a major commercial and marketing opportunity to reinforce PUMA’s credibility as a global sports brand, and we have full confidence that the plans in place to activate this partnership will have a significant global impact.”

Ivan Gazidis, chief executive officer at Arsenal said: “We are excited to be partnering with PUMA, a company whose football heritage and record of innovation have a strong affinity with our own. This represents another important step forward in Arsenal’s progression on and off the pitch.”