Update: We have been sent a list featuring not less than 42 players that Nike has lost recently by our follower @m.eisenrigler. It becomes obvious that Nike is calculated by Nike not to extend the contracts with many players. It will be interesting to see if it continues in 2021.
Full List: Players Lost By Nike In Past Few Months
Premier League
Manchester United
- Anthony Martial
- Alex Telles
Manchester City
- Raheem Sterling
- Phil Foden
- Kyle Walker
- Fernandinho
- Ederson
- Riyad Mahrez?
Liverpool
- Gomez
- Thiago
- Elliot
Everton
- Calvert-Lewin
Arsenal
- Saka
- Smith-Rowe
- Willian
- Lacazette
Tottenham
- Vinicius
Chelsea
- James
Aston Villa
- Barkley
Crystal Palace
- Eze
Wolves
- Adama Traoré
La Liga
Barcelona
- Mingueza
Real Madrid
- Asensio
- Varane
- Ramos
Betis
- Lainez
Celta Vigo
- Iago Aspas
Serie A
Juventus
- Arthur
- Alex Sandro
Inter
- Brozovic
Milan
- Ibrahimovic
Ligue 1
PSG
- Neymar
Lille
- Weah
Bundesliga
Bayern
- Lewandowski
- Coman
- Nianzou
Leipzig
- Mukiele
- Adams
Bayer 04
- Schick
- Diaby
- Tapsoba
Others
- David Neres
As an avid follower of football, our website and possibly also our boot stats site Football Boots DB, you surely know that Nike has been the leading football boots brand since several years. However, now Nike seems to change its strategy - the Swoosh apparently lost various of its best players, and that just in the past six months.
Adidas, Nike and Puma supply the boots for around 97% of footballers
In 2020-2021, the situation on the boot market is as follows - Nike is sponsoring more than half of all players of Europe's biggest leagues with around 53%, Adidas comes second with around 37%, Puma comes third with 7%. All other brands except the big three account for just 3%.
Players Who Left / Could Leave Nike
Players who have apparently / officially left Nike does not only include a handful of medium-attractive athletes (in terms of marketability) but superstars like Neymar, Lewandowski, Thiago Alcantara and Sergio Ramos.
We have counted more than 20 popular players who have / are set / were rumored to leave Nike just in the past 6 months.
Mercurial NOT For Life? Franck Ribéry To Leave Nike?!
Nike has changed its strategy
It is pretty certain that Nike did not get short of money unexpectedly to pay those athletes but that the reason is that the Swoosh has changed its strategy. It seems like Nike do not want to sponsor athletes whatever it costs bit let run out deals they think that are too expensive.
In fact, with that large amount of players leaving Nike currently, we think that it is possible that Nike comes together with players to let some contracts end ahead of schedule. We also think that it is sure that Nike does not want to pay many of their players as much as before - see Ribery, Ibrahimovic or Raheem Sterling as examples.
Two brands are snapping the players Nike is losing - Adidas and Puma. In fact, Puma's CEO said that their new strategy is to sign more superstars to make the brand more attractive.
Of course, with thousands of footballers playing the Top 5 leagues (around 3,000), Nike is still sponsoring more than half of all players of them.
All Important Players Who Could Leave Nike
Kingsley Coman: Nike ➡️ Puma
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Nike ➡️ Unsponsored (Nike, Puma, Diadora)
Willian: Nike ➡️ Puma
Riyad Mahrez: Nike??
Sergio Ramos: Nike ➡️ Adidas?
Thiago Alcantara: Nike ➡️ Adidas
Iago Aspas: Nike ➡️ Adidas?
Arthur Melo: Nike ➡️ Adidas
Marco Asensio: Nike ➡️ Adidas
Robert Lewandowski: Nike ➡️ Puma
Adama Traoré: Nike ➡️ Unsponsored
Phil Foden: Nike ➡️ ???
Raheem Sterling: Nike ➡️ New Balance / Puma ???
Franck Ribery: Nike ➡️ Unsponsored
Kyle Walker: Nike ➡️ Puma
Anthony Martial: Nike ➡️ Puma?
Neymar: Nike ➡️ Puma
Axel Telles: Nike ➡️ Adidas
Raphael Varane: Nike ➡️ Puma???
What do you think of Nike cutting costs by not extending the deals with dozens of players? Comment below.