B Club Only Now: How Flamengo Lost Its Status As Adidas Elite Team

When we gave an overview of the Adidas pyramid of football clubs some days ago, some Brazilian fans and avid followers were surprised that Flamengo is not an Adidas Elite team...

Adidas Elite Teams Until 201X

In fact, we listed Flamengo as an Elite Team in our last ranking, but we revised this for our latest update - let us explain why.

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Ahead of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Adidas wanted Flamego to become a top team

Adidas signed the record 10-years deal with Brazilian team Flamengo in 2012, 18 months ahead of the 2014 World Cup. The ten-year agreement from Flamengo with Adidas is worth around 17 million Euro / season, making it the biggest ever signed by a Latin American club.

Adidas 2016 Annual Press Release

Back in 2013, Adidas has seen Flamengo as an Elite team, as revealed by Adidas company spokesman Lars Mangels.

"Flamengo is the top club for Brazil. Especially with the soccer World Cup next year, it is important for us to position ourselves well there. We have succeeded in this," enthused Adidas company spokesman Lars Mangels. "Because of the importance of the CR Flamengo in Brazil, the contract for adidas is [was] similarly high as a partnership with FC Bayern Munich or Real Madrid".

Adidas teams in 2015 - "no B Clubs"

Adidas had given Flamengo the same treatment as their other A Clubs since the start of the deal in 2013. In 2016, Flamengo was still an Adidas top club, part of the brand's fan-designed 'Creators' jerseys.

However, when the Three Stripes released the 2017-2018 third kits, Flamengo was not part of the global release image. Later Elite-team-only collections did not include CR Flamengo (such as the CNY jerseys and global pre-match top club designs). Flamengo lost its status as Elite club between 2016 and 2018.

There are several possible reasons why Flamengo lost its status as Adidas Elite Team. Most importantly, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was one of the main reasons for Flamengo to become a top Adidas team. In these years, Adidas did not manage to bring Flamengo on the same level as Real Madrid or Bayern globally.

It is safe to assume that the team's kits did not sell as good as of other Elite teams internationally - Adidas sometime (around 2016) decided to stop labeling Flamengo was Elite team.

Around 2016, Adidas also introduced its "B Teams" category for teams. Flamengo is a B Team in the latest Adidas catalog.

However, CR Flamengo is still among the best Adidas clubs, they are just not an Elite team anymore. They are now on a similar level as teams as Boca, Ajax, River Plate and Bordeaux.

We do not think that Flamengo will become an Adidas elite team again in the near future. In fact, Adidas recently signed quite many smaller Englsih & German clubs again, a change of their strategy of the 2010s.

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Would you like Flamengo to be a top Adidas team again? Is there any team that should become an Adidas top club (e.g. Boca, River Plate)? Comment below.