Local soccer could turn to kitting deals to make cash

Awhile back, a local television presenter taunted me that, as a fan of Gor Mahia football club, I should be celebrating since the overrated Green Army had won the 2013 Kenya Premier League.

I am not a Green Army fan, and even if I tried to be, the “real” fans would ban me because they have always considered me an enemy of Gor Mahia, which lacks a club house, and by the time of publishing, did not even have a jersey sponsor.

Gor Mahia is a big club, in terms of fan base, and should have corporate companies falling over themselves to have their name on the club’s jerseys, I always tell Gor fans, and ask them why that is not happening. And before they answer, I tell them it shows the club is just hype.

But I digress.

Of course I told the presenter that I am a fan of a different club, but when she asked what their position in the league was, I had no idea. However, I knew how Barcelona had performed in the Spanish La Liga.

Many Kenyans know about and love local football, but truth be told, they always sound more enthusiastic about foreign clubs, and know so much about them that they refer to them as “we” whenever they are talking about the clubs’ chances, argue bitterly over them and call each other names on new media platforms.

I am guilty as charged, but the difference is that, as a prominent football official once reportedly said, “I do not fight my media wars in the press.”

And so it came to pass that when Barcelona signed Brazil’s Neymar, the Spanish giants signed more than just a footballer who is supposed to help them win more trophies. His signing was more of a “business” deal, which was meant to increase the club’s net worth and improve the brand.

Why? Barcelona, who for decades did not have a corporate logo on their jerseys because they did not want to make them “dirty”, and as a part of their corporate social responsibility donate millions of euros to Unicef, are kitted by sportswear manufacturer Nike.

The United States sportswear manufacturer’s Swoosh is on the jerseys of Brazil, and Neymar is a Nike athlete, meaning that he endorses Nike apparel, appears in their adverts and gets paid for that.

Although Barcelona were winning trophies, the club had been on the lookout for an elite footballer who was already signed up by Nike.
Their players Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol were already contracted by Nike, but according to Spanish football writer Ben Hayward, they were not high-profile in terms of merchandising.

The team’s other elite players, Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Spain’s David Villa (who has since moved to Atletico Madrid), were contracted by German sports wear manufacturer, Adidas.

Messi and Villa’s national teams are kitted by Adidas, and whenever they are not on duty for the club, they only wear Adidas apparel.

Besides, Barcelona cannot take advantage of their “brand” because that would mean conflict of interest.

The fact that Neymar was already a Nike athlete increased his net worth — and both on and off pitch, he meant more to Barcelona since there is no conflict of interest.

It is a win-win situation for the club and the player as the latter receives his millions of euros for playing football, and the former gets 50 per cent of the total he earns from advertising contracts as long as he is their player.

Ideally, the stakes for Neymar, as a Nike athlete, were upped by the fact that his national team is kitted by Nike. (Note: Sandro Rosell, who was the president of Barcelona Football Club when Neymar was signed, worked for Nike from 1996 to 2002. He spent the last three years of his assignment with Nike in Brazil).

The moral of the story is that players can actually gain from their national teams’ kit manufacturer as the national team or local federation also gains when fans buy original replica jerseys, which many serious football federations are only too happy to let fans do.

A country like South Africa discourages fans from buying fake replica shirts of Bafana Bafana because a percentage of the proceeds are used to assist the national team and/or the federation.

But this deal between fans and federations is even better when fans know the official colours their national teams wear since, whenever a deal is signed by a sportswear manufacturer and the federation, it is made public so the fans can buy the kits, to the benefit of the kit manufacturer, the players, and especially the national federation.

Which brings me to the big question: What are the official colours of Kenya’s Harambee Stars? Where can one find the original replica jerseys? How much do they cost? When did FKF and the kit supplier sign the deal and how much was it worth?

These are some of the questions Kenyan football fans have been asking, and before they are answered, I want to guess that they (fans) will have to wait till the next match day to see a “new” kit being unveiled, as always happens.

In the meantime, they can continue making other national teams and federations richer buy buying their original replica jerseys, which are easily available.