BERLIN (AP) — German soccer and Adidas are breaking up.
American sportswear giant Nike will supply all of Germany’s national teams with its apparel and equipment from 2027, the German soccer federation (DFB) announced Thursday.
The new deal extends to 2034 and ends Germany’s long-standing association with Adidas, which goes back some 70 years.
“We’re looking forward to working with Nike and the trust they’ve placed in us,” federation president Bernd Neuendorf said in a statement. “The future partnership will enable the DFB to continue to carry out key tasks in the coming decade with regard to the comprehensive development of soccer in Germany. But one thing is also clear — until December 2026, we will do everything we can to achieve shared success with our long-standing and current partner Adidas, to whom German soccer has owed a lot for more than seven decades.”
German teams wore Adidas gear for all four of the men’s World Cup titles, their three European titles, and the women’s two World Cup and eight European titles.
Adi Dassler, the founder of the German sportswear brand, sat on the bench beside West Germany coach Sepp Herberger when the German team won the World Cup for the first time in 1954, wearing his company’s screw-in stud boots.
Dassler did not invent the boots with changeable studs, as many believe. They were invented some years before by German shoemaker Alexander Salot, who registered his invention with the German patent office on Aug. 30, 1949.
But they certainly helped the Germans beat Hungary in the 1954 World Cup final. Dassler’s company has been supplying German soccer with its gear ever since, and only last week it presented the new jerseys for the upcoming European Championship, which Germany is hosting this summer.
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