Barcelona Confirms New Nike Deal To Address Financial Challenges

La Liga giants Barcelona have announced a new multi-year agreement with kit supplier Nike, which will help to further alleviate their financial problems.

While Barça has not revealed the annual financial details of the deal, president Joan Laporta has asserted that it will be the largest of its kind in global football.

The club expects the deal will total significantly more than €100 million ($107m) per year but that the agreement is incremental and that the total amount is also dependent on certain add-ons.

While financial details for such agreements are not always disclosed in football, Manchester United entered into a 10-year partnership with Adidas worth £1 billion ($1.1 billion) in 2023.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid is reported to raise around €120m annually from their agreement with Adidas, although that was signed in 2019.

“Barcelona and Nike, two leading brands in the sports industry, are pleased to announce a new start with a multi-year partnership agreement, starting effective this season, that brings a new collaborative strategic partnership model between the two organizations,” Barcelona said in a statement.

“This new partnership consolidates Nike as a main partner of the club and the official technical partner across all professional and amateur teams, bringing a unique model that strengthens the brand association and fuels the global retail and licensing business growth.

“Nike has a key strategic role in the club’s retail operations and, together with Barça Licensing & Merchandising, will join forces in the development of specific plans related to product creation, supply chain, and global distribution.”

Barça and Nike have been partners since 1998, and the new agreement aims to strengthen the club’s finances as they work to comply with LaLiga’s spending limits.

As of September, their cap was set at €426m, with Laporta saying recently they were in excess of that limit by around €60m.

The new deal with Nike is expected to help close that gap, although the extent of its impact remains unclear.

Barça aims to return to a position where they can make signings more freely, following challenges in registering players in recent years.

Despite those problems, the club has made an encouraging start to the new campaign under coach Hansi Flick.

Barça have secured victory in 11 of their first 12 league matches, placing them at the top of La Liga, and they have won three out of four Champions League games.

They travel to Real Sociedad in the league on Sunday for their final match before the November international break.