left Nike this month for Swiss sportswear company On on a deal that mixes cash with equity. Football treated it as a shock kit switch. The closer read is a business sequel. In 2019, did not simply endorse On. He bought in, helped design a tennis line from scratch, and only then took the brand onto tour in a match shoe it had never made. Mbappe is now being asked to do the same job in football.
Before November 2019, On was known for CloudTec running shoes and Swiss engineering, not courts. Then Federer joined as an investor and what the company called a co-entrepreneur. The New York Times described him as an investor, contributing designer, and representative. Notably, an endorser wears a logo, but a partner can demand a shoe that does not exist yet.
“I’ve been a fan of On and its products for a while, but after talking to the founders I realised we have a lot more in common than just our Swiss roots,” Federer said at the time. “I’m excited to be part of the On team and to work on the future of a next-generation global sports brand.”
Co-founder Olivier Bernhard framed the deal as something other than a billboard. “It became clear that there was a unique opportunity to forge a joint entrepreneurial path that is very different from an athletic sponsorship that a big company would do.”
In July 2020, On launched THE ROGER Centre Court, a tennis-inspired lifestyle sneaker. The sharper turn came in March 2021 at the Qatar Open in Doha, when Federer debuted THE ROGER Pro, On’s first competition tennis shoe, built with him and initially not for sale. Apparel had already gone to Uniqlo in 2018. Footwear waited until a product Federer helped create.
Bernhard explained why running tech was not enough. “Tennis players put up to three times their body weight through a shoe during lateral movements,” he said. “These high forces demand extreme agility and stability. That’s what we worked with Roger to create.”
Federer’s stake size was never officially published. When On listed on the NYSE in September 2021, shares jumped more than 47 percent, and the company was valued around $11.3 billion. THE ROGER became a franchise On could keep selling after Federer’s farewell.
ended a Nike relationship that began in 2006, when he was nine. On confirmed cash-and-equity structure, the brand plans its first football boots for 2027. Thierry Henry helped recruit him. The Athletic reported Nike was prepared to match the base money. Equity tipped the deal.
“From the beginning, what drew me to On was the opportunity to build something entirely new together that will help shape tomorrow’s game,” Mbappe said. On CNBC, he added: “Of course, I had 20 amazing years with Nike, I can only say thanks to them.” Then: “But I think, as a person, as a player, it was the time to change.”
The comparison only holds if the gaps are stated clearly. Roger Federer’s break from Nike was staggered. Uniqlo took his apparel in 2018, and On tennis shoes arrived three years later. Kylian Mbappe’s personal footwear move is a cleaner cut. Federer’s equity later had a public scoreboard when On listed in 2021. Mbappe’s stake has not been valued in the same way. Timing also separates them. Federer entered first, by about seven years.
If On’s football launch works, the takeaway will not be that the company got lucky twice. It will be that it reused a method proved in tennis: enter a sport the brand does not own, give the defining athlete a share of the business, and build the product with that player until the logo belongs on the pitch.
