Official Partnership Announcement – 18.01.2021

 

Homefans are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with Brazilian clothing brand Athleta, one of the most historic brands of South America with an unparalleled heritage in the sporting world. 

The partnership will allow both brands’ to expand shared objectives of broadening the reach of rich South American and Brazilian footballing culture and unique curated goods with a compelling story to share with audiences around the world. 

Athleta was the official kit provider of the 3 time World Cup Winner Brazilian National team in 1958, 1962 and 1970. By that time, Athleta also was the official kit provider of numerous Brazilian teams, including Santos FC between the ’50s until the beginning of the ’80’s. The club, together with the brand, won 2x Libertadores and 2x Club World Cups during this period. But most importantly, the king of football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé, was the main player endorsed by the company throughout his whole career.

Pelé won three World Cups with the Brazilian National Team and with Santos, scored more than 1.000 goals in his career, and was nominated by FIFA as the “Player of the Century”.

The Athleta Santos FC Collection

 

The unique Homefans marketplace model incorporates the fan experience at the heart of its value proposition, and the recent development of the Virtual Stadium Tour experiences that fans can experience online from the comfort of their homes – Homefans LIVE – confirms this novel approach. Moreover, the launch of the Homefans Shop complements this proposition and excels at bringing together unique and tangible fan experiences to the comfort of each and everyone’s home.

The exclusive partnership with Athleta for the European territories will allow Homefans to curate the sales of original shirts manufactured by the company.  The first launch of this partnership will revolve around Santos FC, to allow interested parties to relive the true history of the shirts used at Santos, in official games.

The underlying story of the Athleta shirts centres around the originality of the jerseys, which means that the shirts are not just retro shirts, but actually the original ones worn back in time. Aiming at keeping the historical heritage, each item maintains the original clothing fabric of that time, the same labels and symbols and numbers, as it was done back then – passing on to fans exactly as it was worn by the stars.

More exclusive club collections will be released in due time. The Santos collection will feature the following shirts around the life of ‘O Rei’ at Santos FC: 

  • 1956 Jersey: First Pele´s jersey with Santos FC
  • 1962 / 1963: 2x Copa Libertadores and 2x World Club of Clubs winner
  • 1969: Scored his 1000 goal against Vasco, at Maracanã
  • 1974: Goodbye of Pelé with Santos FC

This partnership aims to educate and capture global sports fans around the historical heritage of a unique brand, which has always been side by side with the King Pelé.

Official Statements

Homefans Founder Daniel Velásquez said of the partnership:

“At Homefans, we want to provide the best fan experience to our audience even if it is from the comfort of their home. The creation of the Virtual Tours and the Homefans Shop goes in that direction, and we are pleased by the positive reception we have had so far. This partnership with Athleta is the perfect example of that approach, partnering up with an amazing brand that offers world-class products, with an authentic story to tell. One of the most relevant stories in world football around the one and only, Pelé” 

Athleta CEO, Tiago Dib Bulgarelli  stated:

“ This international partnership with Homefans will help Athleta grown even more globally, showcasing the history of the brand, its clubs and especially Pelé, the King of Football”

Homefans’ community will also benefit of the exclusive pre-sale access to the original Santos FC jerseys, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks on the Homefans Shop. For more details on the shirts, read our dedicated Pelé – Santos FC collection blog. 

Keep an eye on both sets of channels in the coming weeks for more new shirt releases in 2021!

Social links

Homefans LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/homefans 

Homefans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homefans/ 

Homefans Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homefanssupport/


Athleta Website: https://athletabrasil.com

Athleta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athletabrasil/