Puma Premier League Deal Announced - No More Nike After 25 Years
- New Ball Supplier: Puma will be the official Premier League ball supplier from the 2025-2026 season, replacing Nike.
- End of an Era: Nike's 25-year partnership with the Premier League as the official match ball provider has ended.
- Puma's Strategy: Puma is investing heavily in football, securing deals with major leagues like the Premier League, Serie A, and La Liga to challenge Nike and Adidas' dominance.
Update - 17 March 2025 The Premier League officially announced that Puma will make the Official Premier League ball from the 2025-2026 season. Puma replaces Nike after 25 years, with the first Puma Premier League football to be released in early June.
No More Nike - Puma To Make Official Premier League Ball from 2025-2026 Season
Nike has been the Premier League's official match ball partner since the 00-01 season. Nike was given every opportunity to prolong the deal, but no agreement was reached in the end. Instead, the Premier League will use Puma balls starting from the 25-26 season after the two parties agreed on a lucrative deal that is worth more than the £10m a year Nike was paying.
Many fans will fondly remember some of the Nike match balls used over the last 25 years and strongly associate various editions with specific clubs, players, and moments from Premier League history. They have been part of the fabric of the Premier League, an ever-present for many that accompanied the league on its rise to becoming the richest and most watched in the world. Recent editions may not have been as memorable as the balls from the 2000s - not helped by the new two-balls-per-season cycle - but the switch to Puma will still mark the end of an era.
Puma signed ball supplier agreements with Serie A and La Liga some years ago, and adding the Premier League to their list of partners is quite the feather in its cap. All three leagues had previously been partnered with Nike. Puma's increased focus on - and investment in - football, through the signing of higher profile clubs and players, as well as these match ball partnerships, is not going unnoticed.
For fans who grew up watching football in the 2000s, Nike and Adidas were by far the dominant forces, and remained the preferred brands of those kids into adulthood. Puma will be hoping that their aggressive strategy will see them gain a similar standing among the youth of today, and one day surpass the two sportswear giants.
What do you think of this news? Are you sad to see Nike leave the Premier League? What's your take on Puma as a replacement?
