As unlikely as it sounds, one of the most gifted footballers in the game has chosen not to be paid even for the boots on his feet. Michael Olise, Bayern Munich forward and France international, has stayed clear of commercial partnerships. Even now, with the World Cup only confirming his place among the most recognisable players of his generation, he remains without an official deal with a sportswear company or boot manufacturer. By most estimates, that decision costs him several million pounds every year. Why? Why would a player operating at this level walk away from that kind of money? How unusual is it in modern football? And how does he decide what to wear on the pitch? “I can’t remember a player at this level—a starter for a major national team and a key figure at one of Europe’s biggest clubs—without a deal with a brand. Normally, athletes of this calibre work with several partners at once,” sports marketing expert Misha Sher, founder of the agency One of Not Many, told The Athletic. A Nike, Adidas or Puma contract buys more than visibility. The money is obvious. Less obvious is everything else. Sponsored players receive boots built around their own biomechanics, often with injury prevention in mind. Then come the campaigns, the profile, the credibility that comes from fronting a global brand, and the commercial opportunities that follow.
Exactly how much Olise is leaving behind is impossible to know. Nobody expects the figure to be small. “We’re certainly talking seven figures, probably several million a year,” says Sher. In return, he gets something few elite footballers enjoy: complete freedom over what he wears. Olise usually matches the colour of his boots to the France or Bayern Munich kit, but one thing never changes. He still plays in the Nike Hypervenom Phantom 3, a model released in 2017 and discontinued years ago. For the World Cup round of 16 against Sweden, he wore a customised pair designed by Matt DiGiacomo—better known as Matty Boy—the artist and creative director at Chrome Hearts, one of the French forward’s favourite labels. He’s not entirely alone. A small but growing number of professionals now buy their own boots instead of accepting the restrictions that come with sponsorship deals. Brands have become increasingly prescriptive, insisting that players wear the newest model as soon as it arrives. At the same time, boot contracts no longer command the money they once did. Signing one almost always means giving up the freedom to change boots whenever you feel like it.
The rules don’t stop at the touchline. Many sponsorship agreements extend to public appearances, requiring players to wear a brand’s lifestyle collections away from football as well. Staying independent leaves Olise in control of all of it. That independence made him even easier to spot at the World Cup. While much of the tournament disappeared into a sea of bright pink boots launched by the biggest manufacturers, Olise kept turning up in his familiar Hypervenoms—or in bespoke pairs made for him alone. The same instinct runs through everything else. His social media accounts are regularly wiped clean. When he does post, it’s usually a single photograph, without a caption. Whether that’s a way of constantly resetting the story or simply his nature is almost beside the point. In a sport saturated with branding, there’s something oddly comforting about the thought of Michael Olise walking into a shop to try on a pair of boots. It feels less like nostalgia than a reminder that, every now and then, football still leaves room for people to decide these things for themselves.