AC Milan ends partnership with Adidas after almost 20 years

For the past 20 years, AC Milan’s famous red-and-black striped kit has also been adorned with the iconic three stripes that set Adidas apart from other manufacturers. So when you have a relationship for nearly 2 decades, it’s going to be big news when it’s revealed that that relationship is coming to an end.

As such, the kit world rumbled a bit when AC Milan announced on their website that they were prematurely ending their relationship with Adidas. As they noted in the announcement, Milan joined with Adidas in the 1997-98 season and they’ll be ending it as the 2017-18 season ends. So if you’ve enjoyed seeing AC Milan and Adidas as partners, then you’d better enjoy the rest of the season since it’s going to be ending.

This is likely the last AC Milan kit we will see for a while.

What made this announcement interesting is that the club has also announced that they have already signed a deal with a new manufacturer.

AC Milan, in thanking adidas for the consolidated relationship, is happy to announce a new Technical Partner will soon follow up. AC Milan has signed a brand-new agreement with a sports manufacturer for a global technical sponsorship and dual branded licensing partnership that will start from 1 July 2018. The identity of the new Technical Partner and the details of the new deal will be unveiled in the coming months.

So, who could the new partner be? According to Sports Illustrated, AC Milan are currently in talks with Puma and while another big-name manufacturer could swoop in, the announcement above seems to indicate that a deal is already done. If that’s the case, then we should probably get ready to see Puma add AC Milan to their soccer portfolio, which would be huge for them.

What do you all think of this news, though? Are you going to miss seeing AC Milan take to the pitch in Adidas kits? Do you think the rumors about Puma are true? Let us know what you think.