LONDON: Premier League giants Arsenal Football Club confirmed on its official Twitter handle on Monday that it has agreed to a new, multi-year kit sponsorship agreement with global sports apparel maker, adidas.
The tweet read: ‘Arsenal and adidas have agreed a new kit partnership, effective from July 1, 2019’.
While UK’s The Independent put the deal value at £65 million ($85 million) per annum, the most common figure doing the rounds on British media outlets of £60 million a year. Whetever be the case, the new deal that the Arsenal has negotiated with adidas is worth at least double what the London-based club is earning at present from its sponsorship agreement with Puma, which stands at £30 million ($39 million), which expires at the end of the ongoing 2018-19 season.
For Arsenal, this will be a reunion with adidas, with whom it had snapped ties in 1994 and replaced them with rivals Nike as their famed kit sponsors for a period of 19 years.
The new agreement puts the club in the same league as London rivals Chelsea and Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, both of which are sponsored by adidas and paid £60 million ($78.2 million) and £64.5 million ($84 million) per annum respectively.
The German sportswear giant’s deals with Real Madrid and Manchester United continue to be its most lucrative ones though, paying the two heavyweight clubs £85 million ($111 million) and £75 million ($97.8 million) respectively.
