If you’re unfamiliar with football, the interminable autumn break could be considered the dead zone of the annual calendar: that obscure period when everything grinds to a halt, nothing of note happens, and fans are left staring into the cold abyss of life and constantly refreshing Livescore for international fixtures they’ve never cared about, purely to feel something.
Of course, that’s a fallacy given that the game – essentially a soap opera with the concept of competition attached – never truly stands still. Somewhere, somehow, a narrative is being woven, and the last couple of weeks have delivered two particularly tantalising ones. Yes, Manchester City being found guilty of more than 100 rule breaches might be the biggest scandal ever to rock European football, but for bootspotters and sportswear obsessives, French superstar and Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé’s recent elopement from Nike to On might be even more surprising.
So what's the attraction in leaving one of the world’s biggest brands for another with virtually zero pedigree in football, and what does it say about the shifting balance of power between the industry’s day-one sportswear brands and their contemporary challengers?
Below, we break down the ins and outs of Mbappé's internet-breaking move to On, from the money behind it to the cultural shift driving it, and ask: What does it means for the wider endorsement deal landscape?
The OG Disruptors
On’s move from running into football is being hailed as the first of its kind, and while the scale of their ambition is unprecedented, there have been similar, albeit less ‘glamorous’, ventures in the past. In the 80s, US running stalwarts and present-day On rivals Brooks produced a for the ages when they signed Paul Gascoigne – England’s then-equivalent of Jude Bellingham – to front their then-burgeoning, now long-mothballed football division.
Other minor players have made similarly audacious incursions into the football big time, particularly in the 90s and early 2000s, which saw everyone from Mizuno with Rivaldo and Patrick with Michael Laudrup, to Lotto with eventual Ballon d’Or winner (and Giorgio Armani muse) Andriy Shevchenko enter the fray.
Smaller regional brands enjoyed their own moments in the spotlight, too, often by finding favour with homegrown stars. Pantofola d’Oro became a sleeper hit among Serie A superstars during the league’s heyday, before crossing the Channel on the feet of English football’s resident bad boy Paolo Di Canio and veteran Liverpool legend John Barnes. Spanish outfit Kelme were memorably worn by Arsenal’s then-record signing José Antonio Reyes, after he pitched up in London from Seville.
But none of these forays can really be equated with On landing an icon of Mbappé’s global pull, nor did they happen while the brand in question was riding anything close to On’s current growth curve. That combination means the move stands to have a domino effect in a way those earlier incursions never could.
The Big Transfer
Mbappé swapping the Swoosh for Swiss engineering was hardly a bolt from nowhere, with murmurings about his loosening ties with Nike reported by French newspaper Le Parisien as far back as March. Rumours have swirled about his next move ever since, with everyone from arch-rivals adidas – reportedly courting him with riches far beyond Nike’s offer – and Under Armour to even Decathlon (whose all-encompassing sporting empire spans everything from trail shoes to inflatable kayaks) mooted as possible destinations.
Ultimately, it’s the ascendant Swiss running brand that have won out with a seismic commercial coup, unveiling the France captain as the face of their new football operation alongside football legend , who will take on a de facto ambassador role as ‘director of football’. On revealed the news not with an action shot of Mbappé scoring goals on the pitch, but with a typically minimalist, humanising portrait captured at their HQ by go-to luxury fashion photographer Juergen Teller, a creative decision that neatly encapsulates the upstart’s way of doing things differently.
Mbappé isn’t the first blue-chip athlete to slip through Beaverton’s grasp. Take England captain Harry Kane, who left Nike in 2023 to become Skechers’ first-ever football ambassador. And Lamine Yamal – Barcelona’s generational prodigy, who announced himself to the world at just 15 years of age wearing the Swoosh’s Mercurial line – also departed the brand in 2024.
The Barça youngster eventually opted for adidas after reportedly feeling Nike’s marketing vision was too heavily centred on Mbappé and his Real Madrid teammate Vinícius Júnior – but adidas also had some heavyweight assistance in the form of Lionel Messi, who personally sent his fellow La Masia graduate a video urging him to make the switch. (In what feels like a strange blip in the timeline, the now-lifetime adidas signee also broke through wearing .)
Yet ‘Onbappé’-gate is a unique case. Kane, for all his goals, has always been a more meat-and-potatoes commercial proposition, without quite the same fashion and youth-culture crossover as Mbappé, while Yamal was still a teenager finding his feet. Even beyond football, close parallels are hard to find. Roger Federer’s blockbuster switch from Nike to Uniqlo in 2018 comes closest (and as fate would have it, he later became an investor in On's rise). The key difference is that Federer was already 36, with his best years widely presumed to be behind him.
Mbappé, by contrast, is still firmly in his prime, with the best part of a decade at the summit of the game ahead of him. More striking still, Nike were never simply another sponsor: Mbappé had admired the brand since childhood and dreamed of wearing the same Mercurials as his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. It feels personal.
Time for a Change
So why the itchy feet? Mbappé himself has framed the decision rather simply, saying it was ‘time for a change’. Nike, as is well documented, is currently in the weeds of restructuring and stock-price havoc. Yet it may not be the brand’s challenging financials that spooked Team KMB. (Mbappé’s mother, Fayza Lamari, also serves as his agent, overseeing his image rights and commercial interests with ferocious energy – as evidenced by their recent legal victory over former club Paris Saint-Germain.) The bigger issue may instead be Nike’s waning cultural clout.
A child of Paris’ tough Bondy suburb, far removed from the luxury stores of Avenue Montaigne, Mbappé embodies the street spirit of the capital: a potent mix of working-class roots, sharp intellect and exceptionally high taste IQ.
Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a penchant for absolute single-mindedness, famously refusing to participate in photoshoots alongside gambling and fast-food sponsors despite the obligations that come with captaining the French national team. Instead, he has cultivated long-term relationships with the likes of Dior, Oakley and Hublot, whose identities align more closely with his personal values.
On, widely billed as the biggest threat to Nike's running crown, have become a street-style fixture of our times. They fit neatly into Mbappé’s carefully curated portfolio, where refined taste takes precedence.
The Numbers
Yet it would be remiss to paint Mbappé’s decision as purely a matter of cool factor. According to reports, Nike were prepared to match On’s base offer, but the promise of equity and performance-related bonuses ultimately sweetened the latter’s deal, potentially securing the Real Madrid man a lucrative payday long after he hangs up his boots.
‘For decades, Nike and adidas have been the gold standard for athletes at all levels of the game’, explains Daniel Yaw Miller. ‘The difference is that there is now way more competition in the market. Newcomer brands are aware they can offer certain things that Nike and adidas won’t be able to – things like equity and a seat at the table in terms of product development and marketing.’
For players of Mbappé’s stature, it's also about legacy. ‘In Mbappé’s case with On, he was offered the chance to truly build something and cement his legacy off the pitch by helping a totally unproven brand in football enter and shake up the sport, while aligning his brand with other legends of sport associated with the project: namely, Thierry Henry and Roger Federer,’ Miller adds.
Former adidas Football product manager and founder Matt Hymers echoes Miller’s point about having a greater input.
‘Smaller brands usually offer closer collaboration and more input on design, look, feel and fit,’ he says. ‘For athletes looking to express themselves, footwear is a great outlet, as it’s usually the only piece of on-field kit that’s not under their team’s kit sponsorship deal.’
Next Steps for Football
So while Mbappé’s long-term future is set, what’s next for not only Nike Football, but the wider endorsement deal economy?
Looking at the macro picture, Mbappé’s switch to On is proof that football’s endorsement market is becoming considerably less predictable. For decades, the game’s biggest stars have largely circulated between the same sportswear giants, but ambitious challengers are increasingly willing to muscle into that territory with more inventive propositions. For players, too, the tectonic plates are shifting: the biggest names are no longer simply faces to be plastered across campaigns, but increasingly powerful partners seeking greater creative input, commercial upside and influence over how their personal brands are built. It mirrors football itself, where the balance has shifted towards the individual rather than the club. Increasingly, the athletes are the ones calling the shots.
Nike, meanwhile, are left with the obvious question: Who comes next, especially taking into account the aforementioned Ronaldo’s (surely) imminent retirement? The obvious heir apparent is Norway’s Erling Haaland, Mbappé’s great goalscoring rival, particularly after his World Cup virality. Or perhaps Désiré Doué, Mbappé’s France teammate and partial successor at PSG, who possesses that same street-cool je ne sais quoi, and has already landed a sneaker collaboration of his own.
Michael Olise is another Les Bleus candidate, although his single-minded penchant for older boot silos and notoriously truculent relationship with the media hardly make him the most straightforward proposition.
Then again, the way forward could be a case of looking introspectively and rediscovering the voice and attitude that informed classic campaigns like and . There were recent flashes of that old insouciance in this episode. After Mbappé began wearing whitened-out boots to obscure the Swoosh while his On boots were still to be readied, Nike cheekily turned the look into a retail product of their own.
Whatever happens, Mbappé’s move has shattered the old order in a market long dominated by the same sportswear giants. Might we one day see Yamal with his own HOKA line, or Haaland launching Lululemon’s first boot at the next World Cup? The new battle lines have been drawn, and the endorsement wars only promise to get more interesting from here. Football, the soap opera that keeps on giving.
While we wait for the full on-foot Mbappé’ x On parade, check out the icon’s best sneaker moments with former sponsor Nike.