Nike charges World Cup fans the most for replica shirts after price surge

Rio Ngumoha's shirt in the England dressing room in Florida. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/The FA/Getty View image in fullscreen Rio Ngumoha's shirt in the England dressing room in Florida. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/The FA/Getty Nike charges World Cup fans the most for replica shirts after price surge England supporters face paying inflation-busting £95 for an adult shirt as the tournament begins in the US Fans of World Cup teams kitted out by Nike face the highest costs if they want to buy a replica shirt before the tournament kicks off this week amid a “striking” overall increase in prices. Alongside the official match versions, which are retailing for as much as €160, manufacturers typically make “stadium”, or replica, versions aimed at supporters. Fans of England, France and Brazil typically face spending €110 (£95) on an adult Nike replica shirt, as the tournament in the US begins. For Adidas, dresser of Spain, Germany and Scotland, and Puma, home to Portugal, it is a draw at €100, according to market research by Dr Peter Rohlmann, an analyst who specialises in football merchandise. For children’s tops Nike is still the priciest at €85. Puma charges €80 and Adidas €75. The figures are the average for a national team jersey calculated using prices on the European websites of the sports brands themselves and football associations at the start of the campaign. The price differences are writ large in the UK, where fans of Thomas Tuchel’s team are being charged £15 more for a standard Three Lions shirt than the Tartan Army’s Adidas strip. In the UK, an adult England stadium shirt costs £90 for a replica, or £135 for the “match” shirt worn by the players. The equivalent prices for the Scotland kit are £75 and £120. At £65, a child’s England shirt costs £10 more. Replica kits are big business and Rohlmann estimates that fans will buy between 18m and 23m shirts for this competition. Adidas, Nike and Puma will bank close to 80% of these sales. Even at the bottom of this estimate shirt sales would eclipse the 14.4m sold for the Qatar tournament as the popularity of football continues to grow. Over the last five World Cups the “steady increase in prices for fans buying their national team jerseys is striking”, says Rohlmann. The average price for an adult stadium shirt across all teams is up 53% since South Africa hosted in 2010, according to his data. In 2010 a stadium shirt cost €65. Today it costs €100. For Qatar, in 2022, the average price stood at €90. For English fans Rohlmann says football shirt prices have “risen much faster and proportionally more sharply” than the general cost of living, “meaning that fans’ love for their favourite teams is being ruthlessly exploited”. On the same basis an England shirt cost £45 in 2010 ( Nike replaced Umbro in 2013) and £75 at the time of the last World Cup, in 2022. Four years on the price has jumped to £90. The shirts can be even costlier if shoppers opt to personalise them by adding a name and number. Some childr