Sponsorship: major changes among Bundesliga clubs for the 2021-22 season

The 2021-22 Bundesliga season begins this Friday 13/09/2021 with 69 new sponsorship deals among the 18 participating clubs (as of 12/08/2021), compared to 126 over the entire 2020-21 season.

The Bundesliga is the European Top 5 league that has had the least changes in shirt sponsorship and equipment suppliers during the off-season. Nike strengthened its position as the most represented equipment supplier by succeeding Hummel at SC Freiburg and now has seven partnerships in the 2021-22 Bundesliga for a total investment of €21.2m. 1. FC Köln has also announced a change of equipment supplier, but only from 2022-23, with Uhlsport making way for Hummel (until 2026-27, for €4m/season).

Equipment suppliers will pay a total of €137.3m to the 18 German clubs this season. FC Bayern Munich's contract with adidas is the most lucrative, with an estimated annual allocation of €61.6m, or nearly 45% of the total amount paid by equipment manufacturers for the 2021-22 Bundesliga season.

In terms of main shirt sponsors, only promoted side VfL Bochum and Hertha BSC have changed partners, with Vonovia…