Kylian Mbappé, 28, has left Nike after eight years and becomes the face of On. The Swiss brand sells no football boot to date and had no footballer on its books. It is developing its first pair with him. On sale: not before 2027.
That is the kind of timeline Freddy understands very well. He ordered bibs in February, they turned up in August.
Tactically, you don’t judge a boot in a lab. You judge it on a slope, in the pouring rain, on the synthetic pitch that burns your knees, with a ball that’s a bit soft. If they want a proper test before 2027, my pitch 2 is free on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is.
According to Walfoot, Thierry Henry has been hired by On as Director of Football, a role he has held quietly since 2025, and he is said to have helped get the signing done. A director of football at a brand with no football boot: Freddy says he knows the feeling, his club has a facilities manager and one facility.
The company’s backstory interested him more than the contract. On was founded in 2010, among others by the Swiss triathlete Oliver Bernhard, after Nike turned down the prototype of a shoe he had developed. Freddy nodded at that: at his place too, every bit of kit comes from a refusal. The chairman said no to new nets, and the club delegate found two at a raffle.
Then there is the money, the part Freddy refuses to take in. The player becomes a shareholder in the company, on a ten-year deal as global ambassador according to Walfoot, citing L’Équipe. At his club, shareholding is the clubhouse bar: it funds the transfer window, meaning one ball and a set of bibs.
He does have an intention, as he puts it. On Tuesday he will have his players work in the studs they already own, and wait for 2027. “A flat pitch away, mind you, we’d test them better than they will.”
It’s true, we checked: L'Équipe.
