US sportswear giant Nike is set to return as the official match ball supplier for the elite men’s UEFA Champions League (UCL) club competition after entering exclusive negotiations to take over the contract from German rival Adidas from the 2027-28 season.
Should the four-year contract be finalized, Nike will become the official match ball provider for all men’s club competitions – the UCL, second-tier Europa League, and third-tier Conference League – between 2027-28 and 2030-2031.
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Across the UCL, Europa League, and Conference League, there are 531 matches per season.
The tender process is being managed by sports agency Relevent Football Partners and UC3, the joint venture between UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA) that controls the marketing, sales, and delivery of commercial rights for the club competitions.
The deal will be a significant uplift in value compared with previous cycles, given the inclusion of the Europa League and Conference League.
The announcement comes weeks after UEFA launched its official match ball tender, with the current UCL partner, Adidas, having held the contract for 25 years, since 2001, when it took the rights away from Nike.
French sports retailer Decathlon, meanwhile, has provided the match balls for the Europa League and Conference League since 2024.
Adidas will continue to supply the match ball for the UCL for the 2026-27 season, while Kipsta (Decathlon) will do the same for the Europa and Conference Leagues.
UC3 and Relevent have previously demonstrated a willingness to shift away from long-term partners in key sponsorship categories, with a four-year deal now being negotiated.
In October, for example, it emerged that international beverage company Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) was in exclusive talks with UC3 to replace Heineken as the beer sponsor of UEFA’s club competitions.
Heineken had been a sponsor since 1994, with its last renewal with UEFA in September 2023 worth around $128 million per year.
AB InBev entered an exclusive negotiation period with UEFA, covering the 2027-33 commercial cycle, and has reportedly offered as much as $230 million per year.
Globally, UEFA is attempting to secure a 10% increase on the existing value of the rights.
The current rights, for the three-year cycle which got underway in 2024 and runs through 2026-27, are worth about $3.8 billion per year, with UCL clubs earning almost 75% of the revenue from UEFA’s rights sales.
As well as the first global sponsorship sales process for the next UEFA club competitions cycle, with the bidding process launched in early October, UC3 and Relevent also recently went to market for broadcast rights in 19 markets across Europe, Central America, and South America.
These include major territories such as Brazil, Canada, Belgium, and Portugal, with contracts on offer for the next four-season cycle – beginning in 2027-28.
Last month, Japanese satellite TV network Wowow retained exclusive broadcast rights to the UEFA men’s club competitions and added the UEFA Women's Champions League to its offering for the first time.
In terms of other recent deals, Ziggo Sport, the Dutch broadcaster, is set to retain its rights in the Netherlands for the next cycle after becoming the governing body's preferred bidder. It was unveiled earlier this month that Ziggo has entered into an exclusive negotiation period with UC3.
In Mexico, meanwhile, Telecoms giant America Movil has added the Europa League and Conference League to its UCL deal in Mexico and Central America.
Broadcast rights to the UEFA competitions were already allocated in the 'Big Five' European markets of the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France late last year.
