Swiss sportswear company On has announced its entry into the football industry with Kylian Mbappè as the brand’s face.
The Zurich-based brand is shaking up the football boot industry by appointing Kylian Mbappé as its brand ambassador and French football icon and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry as its Director of Football. Henry has been working with On since 2025 on the creation of the football boot venture.
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The company has also expanded Swiss footballer and Barcelona FC midfielder Sydney Schertenleib from ambassador to the role of product development for designs for the women’s game.
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Kylian Mbappè has ended his longtime partnership with Nike to join On, which is one of the biggest high-profile, splashy business moves in the sports industry this year.
Mbappè joined Nike in 2006 when he was just 8 years old, before he even made his first professional contract or won the World Cup with France. Over 20 years, Mbappè has been with Nike and basically grew his football career with the brand and was the most valuable asset of the company. The French footballer announced his new venture through social media with a caption starting “Dream On, Football”
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Mbappè’s previous Nike contract was reportedly worth around €13 million- €14 million annually, putting him among the top 5 highest-paid active footballers from boot endorsements. Also, before his contract with Nike ended on July 31, the company reportedly offered him a 10-year renewal contract with an increased amount of € 20 million annually, but Mbappè rejected the offer.
Right now, with On, instead of a classic endorsement deal where he gets paid annually, he has taken equity; that is, he will have a stake in the company. The more business On makes and expands, the more cash flow gets directed to Mbappè.
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Mbappè is not the first athlete to pull off this strategic move. In November 2019, Roger Federer left Nike after his partnership of over 2 decades and became a shareholder in On with a 3% stake in the company. On’s market capitalisation saw an increase to $15 billion, and Federer’s share was more than an estimated $375 million, which made him a billionaire sportsman. This partnership also created a big break for On into the tennis industry.
Business analysts speculate that On is doing the same in football. At present, the football boot industry is dominated by Adidas, Puma and Nike, while other brands like New Balance, Skechers and Under Armour have tried to break in and make an impact.
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The new CEO of Nike, Elliott Hill, has already said that Nike’s vision is to focus more on core sports such as football and running. But right now, losing their major face in football would be a big blow to the company, especially when Cristiano Ronaldo is also at the edge of retirement. There has also been a reported drop of 2.3% in Nike’s stock following the announcement of Mbappè raising questions about the brand’s visibility.
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Fans’ reaction to the new announcement has been in favour, and some are against Mbappé’s decision. The majority of finance analysts and sports pages have termed the new move a good steer by Mbappè and On because it takes so much thinking to pull off this switch. On, which was a running shoes and sportswear brand, has quietly entered the football boot industry, which was Nike’s foundation, and took their most valuable star, becoming a big talk overnight.
Fans see that with Mbappé’s image and Henry’s direction in curating the new football boots, On is for sure going to make a big impact in the football world.
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There are also comments from users saying the brand deal might also turn out to be not as good as everybody expects because the same happened before with Steph Curry, when he left Nike for Under Armour in 2013, but left the brand and joined Li-Ning from China.
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The new business move has opened discussions on a wider, important topic in today’s sports and fashion retail industry, which is the new trend of sportspersons becoming not just the face of a brand but also helping to build it and holding a share in it. Whereas, among the tough competition in the football industry, the success of On still remains an open question.
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