The logo of German sportswear maker Puma is seen on a pair of trousers in Herzogenaurach, Germany. (File photo by AFP)
Berlin, December 14 (RHC)-- Puma has announced its decision to terminate a sponsorship deal between the firm and the Israeli regime's football team amid its genocide of the defenseless Palestinians in Gaza. Puma said it will end its sponsorship of sports kits to the Israeli football team next year, a spokesperson for the German firm said on Tuesday.
“Two newly signed national teams will be announced later this year and in 2024, the contracts of some federations such as Serbia and Israel will expire in 2024,” Puma's spokesperson said in a statement emailed to media.
Puma's decision was taken in 2022 as part of its management's new “fewer-bigger-better strategy” and was in line with the regular timelines for designing and developing team jerseys, the spokesperson added. Earlier, the Financial Times had announced that the world’s third-biggest sports brand had terminated its deal to provide kits for the Israeli national football team.
FT said an internal note seen by the paper showed the decision was taken a year ago and was unrelated to consumer boycott calls amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The German sportswear company had decided not to renew its contract with the Israel Football Association (IFA), the note said, adding that it will soon be announcing a new partnership with a high-profile team.
Previously, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement had called for a boycott of the sportswear company since its decision to sponsor the IFA in 2018. In the past, more than 200 Palestinian sports teams had called on PUMA to end its sponsorship of the IFA.
Due to the partnership between Puma and the Israeli team, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), the German company had lost millions of pounds worth of business deals in the UK alone. The PSC branches have been part of a sustained anti-Israel campaign, organizing regular pickets, protests and vigils for several years outside Puma stores and at Puma events all over the UK.
“PUMA’s decision is an important victory that shows the power of the solidarity movement. We’ve sent all corporations a powerful message: if you choose to be complicit in Israeli Apartheid, you will face the strength of the solidarity movement. We will continue to grow our BDS campaigns against banks like Barclays and corporations like JCB, who are complicit in Israel’s system of Apartheid,” PSC Director, Ben Jamal, said.
In the meantime, calls for anti-Israeli boycotts have grown stronger and expanded to cover more firms and products amid Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, killing 18,500 people since October 7th.
