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With a 50-year association already under their belts, Bayern and adidas have opened a new chapter in their long-term partnership. On Tuesday, Germany’s most successful club and the world-leading sports equipment manufacturer announced an extension of their partnership through to 2020.

“We’re delighted that the decades-long partnership between FC Bayern and adidas, which has always been characterised by mutual trust and respect, will continue for a further period of at least eight years,” commented Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, “there is no better partner than adidas.”

“I’m delighted and proud,” said Herbert Hainer, chairman of the adidas Group, which is also a stakeholder in FC Bayern München AG. adidas has partnered with the club for 50 years, continued Hainer, the deputy chairman of the FC Bayern München AG supervisory board, describing an association of this length as “unique in football. It is founded on trust and mutual support. I’m delighted we’re adding another chapter to this 50-year success story.”

Beyond a business relationship

“These have been 50 years of trust and it has grown into a partnership between friends,” observed Rummenigge, noting that relations between Bayern and adidas go far beyond a conventional sponsorship arrangement. “It's more than just a business relationship,” agreed Uli Hoeneß, “there is a powerful bond, and friendships have been formed too. You can always talk to adidas and Herbert Hainer. That's my understanding of a true partnership, and that’s what it’s genuinely been in practice.”

FC Bayern deputy chairman Karl Hopfner spoke of the “mutually beneficial” nature of the association: “This partnership is by no means one-way.” The club has never contemplated a change in equipment supplier, reported Rummenigge, who has learned to value adidas enormously since joining Bayern in 1974. “adidas knows what it has with FC Bayern, we know what we have with adidas.” The partners will continue their joint effort until 2020 - “at the very least,” as Rummenigge said.