1. Sneaker endorsement is really not as simple as wearing shoes on the court

The most basic requirement for signing a sneaker endorsement contract with a star is that the star needs to wear the brand's sneakers to compete or train. On the court, stars wear endorsed sneakers for commercial promotions, social media promotions, recording advertisements, and a series of other activities, all of which are included in endorsement activities.

In fact, this is only part of the endorsement contract. When participating in photo shoots and event promotions outside the stadium, players also need to wear endorsement sneakers in front of the public.

Even in the NBA All-Star Game a while ago, Manchester United star Pogba would cheer for James Harden, who also belongs to Adidas, and contribute to the brand endorsement

The endorsement contracts signed by stars also include not only sneakers, but also often stipulate the brands of clothes, bags, hats, gloves and other accessories worn by the athletes. A formal endorsement contract even includes sunglasses, headphones, personal care products, health products, watches, and even protective cases for tablets or mobile phones, which is very detailed.

Big-name players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Pogba will also pay great attention to their commercial value and will not sign too many types of goods to avoid conflicts. Outside of sneaker ads, they are generally cautious in their apparel endorsements.

Of course, generally speaking, sponsors will also provide players with a complete set of products with logos for use, eliminating the problem of wearing the wrong clothes at the source.

Last season, even as a coach, Li Tie continuously wore Adidas shoes to direct games and clashed with Chinese Super League sponsor Nike, and was fined 400,000.

As for the players’ agents, It is very important for people to carefully check the terms of the contract to determine whether the star endorsement only involves sneakers or other items. Otherwise, it will be too late to regret when you are fined.

2. What should I do if the brands of individuals, clubs, and national teams are different?

Many times, the brands endorsed by players create conflicts between the national team and the club. Many questions arise when players interpret their obligations under national team, club and personal endorsement contracts. After all, whether in the club or the national team, players should wear the corresponding equipment signed collectively to participate in games and training.

The shoes endorsed by some stars are consistent between the national team and the club, such as Bell.

Bell plays for Real Madrid, and Real Madrid’s sports equipment sponsor is Adidas. In terms of the national team, Bell plays for the Welsh national team, and his equipment is also sponsored by Adidas. Bell also has a sneaker endorsement contract with Adidas. At the same time, Bell also has commercial cooperation agreements with EA Sports and Sony. Most importantly, whether Bale is appearing for Real Madrid or the Welsh national team, Adidas' branding is consistent.

Bell's happy life: left-hand national team, right-hand club

The same is true for Neymar. Neymar signed a jersey endorsement contract with Nike, and the jerseys of Barcelona and Brazil are Sponsored by Nike.

When the brand endorsed by a star is inconsistent between the national team and the club, it is usually stipulated as follows:

When attending club-related activities, although the club very much hopes that the star will Can wear club sponsor brand equipment, but in club activities stars can wear the equipment of their own endorsed sneaker brands. In national team activities, clubs cannot force players to wear a certain brand of equipment to attend events. For example, Barcelona cannot allow Messi to wear Nike equipment for training with the Argentine national team (the Argentine national team is sponsored by Adidas). Players are required to wear equipment sponsored by the national team sponsor to attend relevant activities.

Gotze is a player signed by Nike. At that time, he signed with Bayern under Adidas but still wore a Nike uniform with a large logo, so he was fined 10,000 euros

So, for everyone, For major sneaker brands, when signing contracts to endorse stars, it is more cost-effective to choose stars whose clubs and national teams are sponsored by the same brand.

The various provisions of sneaker endorsement contracts ensure that players will not "wear the wrong shoes" when attending various occasions, which increases the brand's exposure and avoids many unnecessary troubles.

3. If you want to get a high signing fee, you have to rely on performance

Speaking of signing fees, you may often hear it in player transfers. But in fact, for some big-name stars, in order to make the stars more loyal to the brands they endorse and better promote the brands, sponsors will pay the stars some signing fees, and there are many ways to deliver the signing fees, often with The number of appearances is linked to performance.

In a one-season contract (for example, from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017), if the player can always appear on the first team's roster, the total price is 100,000 The signing fee in euros plus taxes will be paid to the player in four installments.

Major sneaker companies generally classify clubs. For example, Manchester United, Barcelona, ??Real Madrid and Bayern will be divided into first-level clubs. Players who play for first-level clubs can receive all 100,000 euros.

Chelsea, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain will be divided into second-tier clubs, and players who play for second-tier clubs will receive a signing fee of 75,000 euros. Assume that when a player transfers from Chelsea (a second-tier club) to Barcelona (a first-tier club), the signing fee paid by the sponsor to the player will also increase.

The above ranking is really not for the purpose of making comments...it is the material translated from abroad. If you want to see more rankings, you can go to Forbes' Top 20 Football Club Value Rankings to find out where your home team ranks.

If the signed player plays less than 70% of the first-team appearances, or the player is injured due to injury If he only plays in less than 40% of the games and other factors, the signing fee will also drop significantly.

Similarly, the team's performance will also affect the level of the signing fee. Factors such as whether the player is part of the 23-man roster for the knockout rounds of the European Cup or the finals of the World Cup, whether the team advances to the semi-finals, finals or whether the team wins the league championship will all affect the amount of the signing fee.

4. Is there a dispute over the endorsement contract? The old club has an advantage

Both the company and the players have the right to choose to continue extending the contract. Generally speaking, companies will discuss with players 3-6 months in advance whether to extend their contracts.

However, if the two parties do not reach an agreement, the company will generally give the player 1-2 months to find a new sponsor to negotiate. If the player gets another better contract, then the original sponsor The Chamber of Commerce has 30 days to readjust its offer to match the new sponsor's contract and then negotiate a contract extension with the players.

When a dispute arises between the original sponsor and the new sponsor over player endorsement, the relevant court's ruling will usually favor the original sponsor.

For example, Ozil was previously the spokesperson of Nike. After the expiration of the contract between the two parties, Ozil hoped to switch to Adidas. During this period, Nike and Adidas had a dispute over Ozil's endorsement contract. , although Ozil still signed with Adidas in the end, the relevant judgment made by the court at the time was still in favor of Nike.

Before Ozil changed clubs this time, he even wore Adidas and Nike in the first and second half of a game in order not to offend the two major brands

5. Himself Developing image rights? It’s not necessarily a good deal!

In European football, the image rights of many players are owned by the clubs. The clubs use their image rights to earn profits, and the players can also get a share of it. Therefore, when signing a contract with a team, in addition to the regular factors in the player's contract, special attention must be paid to obtaining the consent of the owner of his or her image rights.

▼It is reported that when Mourinho signed with Manchester United, he had a long-term tug of war with the club over personal image rights

Further reading: Mourinho signed with Manchester United Soap opera reflects the way to break the situation of sports trademark image rights

In addition, the taxes that players need to pay are also considerable. If a player’s sneaker advertising income through image rights is 1 million euros a year, If the image rights belong to the player personally, then the player will need to pay 45% of his income as tax, in addition to 2% social security tax, so that the total tax price will be as high as 470,000 euros. (Looking at this ratio, the players may not be blamed for reasonable tax avoidance within the regulations...)

If the player's image rights belong to the team, then according to relevant regulations, taxes only need to be 20% of the income. In this way, players can save 270,000 euros a year.

If some players do not sign a portrait rights ownership and use agreement with the club, they will generally develop and utilize their own portrait rights through relevant agencies and agents.

In short, if you want to become a football superstar with huge influence and income, you must master the relevant knowledge of sneaker endorsements, and if you want to become an excellent football agent, these are also compulsory courses for you. class.

Nike and Adidas stars nominated for the 2013 Golden Globe Awards

After all, there are so many business rules behind a seemingly simple endorsement contract. Only by fully understanding and applying these rules and operating the commercial activity of player endorsement with a professional attitude and spirit can we effectively protect the interests of all parties and avoid unnecessary conflicts.