Kylian Mbappe leaves Nike for Swiss brand On: The Thierry Henry connection

By Nsidibe Akpan | 18 Sep 2026 18:37, Last updated: 18 Sep 2026 20:08

Kylian Mbappe has ended his 20-year partnership with Nike to become the headline signing of Swiss sportswear brand On, as the company announced its entry into football.

The Real Madrid forward joins former France international Thierry Henry, who has been appointed On's Director of Football, in what is the brand's first serious push into the sport.

The deal is structurally different from a standard boot contract, and that distinction is the actual story here, not the change of logo.

According to The Athletic, Mbappe's agreement includes an equity stake in On rather than a fixed endorsement fee, plus a personal sub-brand of signature boots developed jointly with On's product team.

He becomes a global ambassador across On's performance, movement and lifestyle categories, and will work directly with the company's designers on its first football boots, due in 2027, meaning Mbappe is financially exposed to whether On's football venture succeeds, not just paid to appear in its campaigns.

Mbappe's Nike deal expired on July 31 and was not renewed. 

Le Parisien reported as early as March that the chances of an extension were "practically zero", despite Nike reportedly making a late push to retain him, a pattern consistent with how the brand handled Lamine Yamal, whom it also lost, to Adidas, in February 2024.

Two details sharpen why this is notable for Nike specifically, rather than football sponsorship in general.

Mbappe turned down direct football rivals Adidas and Puma, both of whom were reportedly pursuing him, in favour of a company with zero prior presence in the sport.

Henry, who has worked behind the scenes at On since late 2025, is understood to have been central to persuading Mbappe to make the switch, the appointment of a World Cup winner as a recruiting figure, not just a spokesperson, mirrors how On built its tennis division around Roger Federer from 2019.

Nike acknowledged the split in a statement to The Athletic, saying it was proud of what the two sides had built and wished Mbappe well.

His exit leaves Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland as the remaining marquee names in Nike's football roster.

@KMbappe Dream On, Football.

I still dream of playing football.

That might surprise you, coming from someone who plays it for a living. But it's true.

I still dream of playing with my friends. Playing until sunset. Until dinner. Playing just because it was a game, long before… pic.twitter.com/GVOo7WjAt6

On was founded in Zurich in 2010 by former triathlete Olivier Bernhard with David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, built initially around CloudTec, a cushioning system using hollow pods in the sole.

Federer became a shareholder in 2019, a partnership credited with driving On's expansion into tennis apparel.

The brand listed on the NYSE in September 2021 under ticker ONON, raising $746m.

It has since scaled fast: full-year 2025 net sales reached CHF 3.01bn, up 30% year-on-year (35.6% at constant currency) - the first time the company has crossed the CHF 3bn mark, and a materially stronger result than the 27% growth it had originally guided for at the start of that year.

On's shares rose five per cent in premarket trading following the Mbappe news.

Football is a genuine gap in that growth story. The Americas still account for more than half of On's revenue, and the company has flagged softer trading conditions there through 2026 - a football push, led by a World Cup-winning captain, is a direct route into a category and set of markets, Europe and Latin America especially, where On has had comparatively little footprint.

Sydney Schertenleib, the Barcelona and Switzerland forward, became the brand's first active football signing in December 2025, working across training and lifestyle lines; Mbappe is a considerably larger bet, both financially and reputationally.

Terms were never officially confirmed by Nike or Mbappe, but multiple outlets independently reported a figure of roughly €14m per year under his most recent agreement.

Older reports citing a deal worth as little as €2m to €3m date to 2019 coverage of an earlier, superseded contract, and should not be read as reflecting current terms.

Across nearly two decades with Nike, Mbappe received 12 individual signature boots. The most recent, a gold-and-turquoise Mercurial Superfly 11, was released in summer 2026 to mark his back-to-back World Cup Golden Boot; he finished this year's tournament with 10 goals and four assists, making him the first player to win the award in consecutive editions.

No financial terms of the On deal have been disclosed. But an equity stake, rather than an appearance fee, puts this in a different category from any previous boot deal Mbappe has signed and if it pays off, it is a template other elite players are likely to push for next.

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