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Nike agrees to acquire Umbro for £285 m
Nike has bought the British sporting goods brand Umbro for 285 million pounds.
Umbro provides the kit for the England team and supplies kits for six Premier League clubs. England's Football Association is expected to stay with Umbro under Nike.
FA officials reportedly have played a significant role in the negotiations. If they had canceled their agreement with Umbro then Nike likely would have pulled out of the takeover because they are targeting the England brand.
The FA will now also be able to schedule personal appearances for Nike-contracted players wearing their Umbro products.
Comments
I don't like this at all. With all the American takeovers going on in the premiership, i'll admit, I never expected it to carry over to the national team.
Posted by: redevil | October 23, 2007 01:48 PM
O.O what a change itll be eh
Posted by: Mee | October 23, 2007 02:25 PM
nike is the best umbro is awful thank go nike took over
Posted by: Anonymous | October 24, 2007 12:10 PM
im glad. umbro has had like 5 good cleats and nike puts out a new phenominal cleat every year. The total 90 series, the vapor series (I,II,III for those who dont know) and the R10. Plus how many players in the EPL wear umbro? I dont know much about the FA but i do know that Nike is a better product and its success is shown by all the market takeovers.
Posted by: Matt | November 11, 2007 02:58 PM
I think Umbro has better designed shoes than Nike. As many people know, Nike and to a lesser extent Adidas have more money and have bought more advertising and signed more professional teams and world class stars. That's why kids these days think Nike first; it has nothing to do with the quality of their cleats. When you look at Nike's lineup, their highest quality shoe is actually the Legend (and its twin the Ronaldinho). Their space age lineup is gimmicky. Umbro has at least 3 lines worthy of serious players' attention and these are the SX, the X boot, and the Xai Premiere. They are beautiful shoes with meticulous attention to detail, superior fit and comfort to anything Nike and Adidas have, and the latest technology and style. I do not jump on name bandwagons. My number one factor is comfort and fit, and Umbro is clearly superior across their lineup. It is clear that Umbro's almost nonexistence in the US and other countries is because it lacked the money for massive distribution and marketing campaigns.
Posted by: potentiated | January 14, 2008 07:30 AM
I kind of liked the new Umbro Gloves compared to the Nike Tiempo Gloves.
Posted by: Keeeper King | January 14, 2008 08:27 PM