Arsenal have announced their long term partnership with sporting merchandise giants PUMA, which will kick in as of July 1st this year.
The commercial partnership is heralded as both the biggest in Arsenal and PUMA’s history, but potentially the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in the county.
PUMA will produce the Gunners playing and training kits as well acquiring licensing rights to develop other Arsenal branded merchandise on a global basis.
Bjoern Gulden, chief executive officer for PUMA said at the official announcement:
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.
Arsenal’s CEO Ivan Gazidis reflected on the deal:
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.
The news is no surprise for many who have seen rumours floating around since last year, with numerous kits leaked all over the show. But the bumper deal will inject even more money into the club
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However it’s important to remember the fantastic work of Nike over the past twenty years, producing many memorable shirts from the classic JVC sponsored kits of ’98 to the Invincibles and Highbury memorial shirts as well as the more recent and stylistic, contemporary shirts over the past few years.
Time for Arsenal to turn a new leaf, I’m certainly excited to see some of the actual Puma designs in the coming months. Lets also hope the money we receive gets re-injected into the squad!
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