Nike will make Australia shirts till 2015

Australian football shirts will be made by Nike for the next nine years. It is “Nike’s biggest ever commitment to any sport in Australia” and “by far the biggest sponsorship agreement signed for football in Australia” said Football Federation Australia.

Neither Nike nor FFA would detail the dollar amounts of the agreement, saying only that it represented “a significant increase in the value of the previous agreement”. The biggest previous deal in Australia was with the Australian Olympic Committee to provide for the Australian teams to the 2000 and 2004 Games in Sydney and Athens.

Socceroos wear Nike

Nike said the deal was significantly bigger on a year-on-year basis than anything else it had signed in Australia. The details of the deal mean Nike will provide team wear for all Australia sides run under the FFA banner – the men’s national team (the Socceroos) the Olympic team (the Olyroos), the u17 team (the Joeys) and the women’s national team (the Matildas). Several unamed players will also tie up boot deals with Nike as a result.

Ben Buckley, FFA chief executive said:

“Nike was the first company to take the leap of faith with the game when New Football was launched, and I’m delighted that we will now be able to further develop what has already been an extremely successful partnership,”

“The national team jersey created by Nike for the World Cup has already become a symbol of international sporting success for all Australians.”

Managing Director of Nike Pacific, Paul Zadoff said:

“Nike was excited about the potential of football in Australia, and the success of the game over the past two years has surpassed our expectations”.

“Not only at the highest level of the game with both the Socceroos and Matildas success, but also the increasing popularity of the Hyundai A-League and the growing levels of participation in the sport at grass roots,”

“Nike’s significant nine-year commitment to the game and our ongoing relationship with the FFA and the national teams will only strengthen our leadership in the world’s most popular game, particularly going into the Asian Cup next year.”