Financial and geographical concentration of the soccer uniform industry

Abstract

This essay pays tribute to Peter Donnelly, distinguished contributor to the development of the sociology of sport, by revisiting a prediction that he made in the 1980s, concerning the growing effects of commercialization in soccer. By looking at the official equipment provider of numerous soccer clubs and national soccer teams, totaling more than 250 cases, this research hints at the extent of the financial and geographical concentration of this branch of industrial activity. The paper then argues that, from the standpoint of the material production of equipment, the wide regional and national diversity of the world of professional soccer collapses into a rather homogeneous arena, in which a small number of multinational companies compete for hegemony – with clubs and national teams functioning, in essence, as representatives of the interests of large conglomerates.