U.S. sportswear giant Nike extended its contract with the Korean Football Association (KFA) Tuesday, signing a four-year, 25 billion won ($27 million) deal for the rights to supply the national football team's uniforms.
Under the new contract, which goes into effect next year, Nike will also provide 24 billion won worth in sporting products and allow national team players to use cleats from other brands, the KFA said. Nike had paid the KFA a total of 15 billion won ($16.3 million) for a five-year contract that expires on Dec. 31.
Adidas, which competed with Nike over the rights to have their logo on the uniforms , had offered a four-year deal worth 29.3 billion won.
However, KFA officials were reluctant to sign with the German company over fears that Nike might pursue legal action against the Korean football body over sponsorship violations if it failed win a new contract.
In its previous contract with Nike, the KFA agreed on a ``blackout option,'' which requires national team players to erase the logos on their cleats if they were not Nike products.
Although the KFA declines to give out exact figures, it is believed that there had been more than 100 violations of this clause in the past five years, and the amount of annual fines could be more than the 3 billion won the KFA got from Nike every year.
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