Football Kits Sponsored by Coca-Cola
Football kits often rise and fail with the sponsor(s). Occasions where a sponsor enhances the kit are rare, but if, these are among the most iconic and wanted shirts in history (think of Newcastle FC x Newcastle Brown Ale). One of the sponsors that many people loved and still love is the most famous soft drink company in the world - Coca-Cola.
Football Kit With Coca-Cola as Main Sponsor
In the 1990s, Coca-Cola was almost unavoidable on football kits across South and Middle America. From Brazil to Mexico, the iconic script appeared on countless club shirts, becoming one of the defining visual markers of the era. Almost all big Brazilian clubs such as Palmeiras, Vasco da Gama, Cruzeiro, plus several Mexican sides wore Coca-Cola front and center. At the time, the partnership felt natural: football’s growing popularity matched Coca-Cola’s global expansion, especially in Latin American markets.
Football Kits sponsored by Coca-Cola, using the Football Kit Archive Advanced Search
Coca-Cola once even featured on the kit of the Brazilian national team, the first and only time Brazil wore a sponsor on their shirt (against Chile on December 9, 1987). Tokyo Verdy’s mid-90s kits are also fondly remembered with Coca-Cola on the front, and the brand has made a nostalgic return as sponsor for their women’s team in recent seasons. Cruzeiro wore Coke branding during seasons when stars such as Ronaldo were emerging.
Fast forward to today and the contrast is striking. Coca-Cola no longer sponsors any top-level club match kits, having shifted its marketing focus toward less advertisement and other partnerships. What was once a common sight on shirts has now become a nostalgic reminder of a commercial era that football has largely moved on from.
Coca-Cola returned to sponsoring football shirts when they signed a deal with Napoli to become their pre-match and training sponsor, a move that surely enhances Napoli's non-match performance collections.
Coca-Cola x Chelsea Mock-Up (solely fictional)
It remains to be seen if Coca-Cola will anytime decide to sponsor a bigger team again. Coca-Cola is a sponsor of various big teams, but those are smaller partnerships only.
