Every professional footballer’s dream is to play in the best stadiums and competitions on the planet, to be recognised as a global star and, at the same time, to be financially rewarded for it. One of the great perks in terms of sponsorship is receiving new football boots every month from the major brands – and, what’s more, getting them completely free of charge. However, in recent months we have been seeing a turning point in this regard, particularly from the perspective of many world-class footballers. Could we be reaching the end of sports sponsorship contracts?
Football boots' sponsorship deals
Nowadays, thanks to social media, it is possible to see how many of the world’s top footballers sometimes choose to wear the boots they actually prefer, rather than the specific models that brands pay them to wear. In many cases, this can simply be seen as a marketing strategy by the brand itself to raise the profile of a special launch. However, in many other instances, it is purely down to the player’s own personal decision, as they prefer to wear older boots which, at the time, suited their needs and playing style perfectly.
We often come across simple superstitions and little rituals that footballers follow before taking to the pitch. The reality is that the psychological factor plays a major role. Mesut Özil, Héctor Bellerín, Ivan Rakitić, Aubameyang and also Gabriel Pires, of SL Benfica, have been spotted in recent weeks training and even playing matches wearing classic football boot boxes. In the case of the Spanish footballer who plays for Arsenal FC, the situation is even more striking, as he has used different brands of boots in both training sessions and official matches.
In Bellerín’s case, the situation is even more intriguing, as he is not using older models, but rather more recent boots from different brands, such as the ultra-lightweight adidas X and the Nike Mercurial Vapor. The Spanish footballer, who until recently was represented and sponsored by the German brand Puma, thus appears to enjoy greater freedom when it comes to choosing the boots he feels most comfortable in.
A brand that invested heavily in players such as Héctor Bellerín with the aim of boosting its promotional impact on social media and getting more and more young people interested in Puma football boots. However, perhaps due to the personal preferences of the Premier League player, both parties decided to end their partnership. These days, it is common to see the London-based player wearing different boots both in training and in matches – a situation in which he seems to feel completely at ease.
The truth is that this case, coupled with doubts about what is actually happening, has sparked an interesting debate on many websites and social media communities specialising in the world of football boots. Are we really witnessing the beginning of the end for sponsorship deals between professional footballers and brands? Personally, I don’t think so. Bellerín’s case is an exception, just as there are other similar examples in professional football of which we are probably unaware.
Even so, it is also true that there are cases such as that of Gabriel, a Benfica footballer, who, despite attracting interest from several brands looking to sign a sponsorship deal, continues to wear the boots he actually feels most comfortable in, such as the adidas Adipure, Nike Total 90 or Mizuno Morelia. Another similar case is that of Ivan Rakitić, who during FC Barcelona training sessions usually wears the boots he likes best and feels most comfortable in. However, due to his commitments to the brand he represents, he ends up wearing boots from adidas’s latest collection in the pre-match session and, subsequently, during the official match, where he wears the adidas Predator.
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