Despite being plagued with issues around kit quality in English soccer, which saw it lose three Premier League kit deals ahead of the 2024-25 season, Castore is the fourth most prevalent kit supplier in this year’s UEFA Champions League (UCL).
The brand remains actively involved in the English top-flight through a deal with Everton but is linked to four tie-ups across the top-tier European club competition this season. Castore has remained active in the European market, adding deals with Club Brugge and Dinamo Zagreb.
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The Castore brand was only founded in 2015 but has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence, which has seen it invest in top-tier European soccer kit supplier partnerships.
The brand started to face growing criticism, however, at the start of the 2023-24 season, when partners and team fans started to flag issues. Aston Villa complained about the kit quality after their players appeared to be drenched in sweat during some of their early games.
Newcastle United fans later complained about the lack of availability for replica shirts in the city and problems around order delays. Castore has lost both of these contracts this season in the Premier League, as well as another deal with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The brand has even encountered issues around its new deal in the Premier League this season when an Everton player was seen playing in a pre-season match where his club badge was falling off. Bayer Leverkusen experienced a similar issue with club badges last season too, although remain affiliated with the brand this season.
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By GlobalData
The UCL has expanded from 32 to 36 teams this season amidst a big format change that sees clubs compete in a league model. Despite the expansion for more teams and competitive matches, the kit supplier market remains dominated by NIKE, adidas and Puma.
These are the three biggest brands in the sports market globally, and they retain an interest in signing deals with the biggest teams and competitions. This season, the trio account for 26 of all the active deals in the UCL.
Linked to the biggest teams, the brands also account for an annual spend of $920.81 million. This is representative of 95.91% of the total annual value of the kit supplier deals in the UCL this season.
Nike and adidas will claim the most coverage across the competition this season, linked to nine deals each. This should offer them the best chance of one of their brand shirts being seen lifting the UCL trophy at the end of the season.
Nike and adidas shirts have been worn by 24 out of the 32 historical UCL champions, with adidas winning almost every other title (with 15 wins in this time).
British brand Umbro, with two UCL victories, is the only other kit supplier to have multiple UCL titles to its name. As previously alluded to, this history continues to come at a high price, with Nike’s UCL 2024-25 portfolio the highest annual spend at $430.49 million, with adidas’ annual figure at $307.5 million.
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