Breach of Contract? Ronaldo Appears to Wear Adidas Gear for Al Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the face of Nike for well over a decade, but he was spotted in what seems to be a pair of Aiddas shinpads for Al Nassr recently.
Ronaldo Appears to Play in Adidas Gear
Al Nassr lost 5-0 to Celta Vigo in a friendly yesterday, a scoreline we're not too used to seeing Cristiano Ronaldo on the receiving end of, a few spankings in his second spell at Man Utd aside. The game also had another shock in store for his fans. In photos posted by the man himself on his Instagram account, three stripes can clearly be made out on his shinpads, visible through his socks.
You don't even need to have a passing interest in football to know that Ronaldo is a Nike athlete, such is his prominence as brand ambassador. He's repped the Swoosh his whole career, and been the face of the brand for most of that time. Although he's worn Adidas kits for the majority of his club career, all of his personal sports gear on and off the pitch has always been Nike branded, as his billion dollar lifetime deal surely stipulates.
Although shin pads are largely invisible and not at all one of the main marketing concerns of sports brands, it is still very unusual to see Ronaldo with anything other than the Swoosh on any of his personal equipment in a sporting context. He obviously had no choice but to wear Adidas clothing when playing for Man Utd, Real Madrid and Juventus, but his club's technical sponsor have no say in what kind of boots, shin pads, sweat bands etc that he uses.
Nike don't seem too concerned about him wearing Swoosh-less shinnies, as he has been spotted with his own face splashed all over his protective gear in the past. To have their number one rival and competitor associated with their number one athlete, however, even on an item as unimportant as this, could be a different story.
Do you think the photos show Adidas shinpads, or is there another explanation? Comment below.
