By Jonathan Rest

Wolverhampton Wanderers, of English soccer’s Premier League, and Saracens, one of the country’s leading rugby union clubs, are the latest teams to join the stable of Castore, the emerging UK sportswear brand, Sportcal can exclusively reveal.

Castore, which Sportcal recently reported had signed up with Newcastle United from next season, will become the kit supplier of Wolves in a long-term deal that begins with the 2021-22 campaign.

It is thought Castore will pay in the region of £1 million ($1.32 million) per year, some way short of the £5 million Newcastle will receive, but the deal with the Midlands club is only for the kit supply contract and does not include wider retail rights.

Wolves have worn kit manufactured by German behemoth Adidas since returning to the Premier League in the 2018-19 season. The pair have now struck an agreement to break the contract a year early. 

Meanwhile, Castore’s multi-year deal with Saracens, also starting in 2021-22, is worth around £200,000 per year, Sportcal understands.

Saracens, five-times winners of the top-tier Premiership, will be playing in the second-tier RFU Championship after being relegated for breaching salary cap rules.

The London-based club’s present three-year contract with Nike expires after the 2020-21 season, and the US brand has stuck with the team even when some of its commercial partners, headlined by stadium and shirt sponsor Allianz, ended deals.

Castore broke into sport in January 2019 when it signed up Scottish tennis star Andy Murray in a kit supply deal. Twelve months later it became the kit supplier of the West Indies cricket team in a three-year agreement.

Its first soccer team deal came this May, a long-term partnership with Scotland’s Rangers, and just last month it made its first entrance into Australia, in the shape of the Sydney Roosters, of the National Rugby League. 

Sportcal