According to some rumors, Puma will join Brazilian side Bahia, starting from January 2024, replacing the club's in-house manufacturing. Thanks to @mantosdofutebol for breaking this news.
One of the biggest issues related to the entry of Bahia into the City Group may have its days numbered: will the team wear Puma or not?
Despite the arrival of the international group to Bahia, at first, Esquadrão, the club's own brand, remained on the uniforms. This happened among other reasons, because Puma, which has a partnership with Grupo City wearing most of its teams, in Brazil has an exclusivity agreement with Palmeiras, which prohibits the supplier from having other teams in the league.
This issue, according to @PVC will be somehow overcomed and Bahia will wear Puma uniforms in 2024.
Interestingly, the executive director of City Group, Fernan Soriano, said to Bahia: "Look, our entire process really starts on January 24, starts in 2024, so it's not worth taking someone now to get to know this structure that still has a bureaucratic issue going on and from 2024 yes, EC Bahia hopefully will have a shirt supplied by Puma, which is the same official supplier of Manchester City. The main sponsors will be discussed in Brazil, or globally, but occasionally for the local, that is, for Brazil, but Puma will equip Bahia next year”.
If these statements are true and not a declaration of intention by the director, surely this issue must have already been defined by the supplier with Palmeiras, because the brand's contract with the team runs until December 2024, and according to the statement released in 2021, when the renewal was carried out, it was stressed that the exclusivity between the parties in the Brazilian territory had been maintained.
What do you think? Will Bahia wear Puma? Comment below.