On could become the new Nike of football An exploration of how far the brand could go
What will On bring to football? That is the question we asked ourselves in the newsroom once the buzz surrounding Kylian Mbappé's signing had died down. A brand that has revolutionised the aesthetics of every sport it has entered is now taking on its toughest mission yet: breaking every convention of the most traditional sport of all, football. The foundations are encouraging, but that does not necessarily mean success. There are several aspects that need to be considered and explored in order to make sense of this operation.
On's heritage cannot be built on boots alone
Let's start with what we know. On's entry into football will initially take shape through football boots, the product through which the brand will make use of its greatest strength. We are talking about LightSpray, the revolutionary technology that allows the brand to replace traditional multi-stage manufacturing with a single process lasting just a few minutes, using a robotic arm to apply a single filament around 1.5 km long in just three minutes, eliminating stitching and glue. It is a remarkable process that we had the chance to see first-hand when the new facility in South Korea opened.
In the world of running, this technology has led to the creation of incredibly lightweight running shoes, appreciated by both professionals and amateurs. It will undoubtedly be revolutionary in football too. And given that sponsorship deals never happen by chance, the first player signed is probably the closest thing to a sprinter that football has to offer. We will, however, have to wait several months to find out what the first On football boot will be called. The transition will not happen overnight, as Mbappé played the Madrid derby wearing Nike Mercurial Superfly 11s with the Swoosh carefully covered up. This scenario will probably be repeated over the coming months. It is an understandable choice, allowing Mbappé and On to work carefully on every detail, put the boots through every imaginable stress test and make the new footwear as suited as possible to the Frenchman's style of play.
What needs to be emphasised, however, is that no matter how beautiful, revolutionary or even iconic a boot may be, it never defines the aesthetics of football in the way a shirt or a kit does. Predator and Mercurial are undoubtedly legendary boots, but ultimately they are details that complete a player's image while they are wearing a training or match kit. They are an expression of personality, but fans in the stands or out with friends wear their team's shirts. Not the boots of their favourite player.
The Skechers comparison
Before moving on to the question of football kits, we need to complete the discussion around boots, given that they currently represent the only On product entering the world of football. Mbappé's signing generated unprecedented media coverage, amplified by the fact that the Frenchman left Nike to join the Swiss brand. Something without precedent. Now comes the difficult part for On: keeping the hype alive and avoiding the fate of other brands that made a spectacular entrance only to see the excitement gradually fade. The obvious example is Skechers, and to some extent Decathlon.
Both brands entered the football scene by signing absolute superstars, Harry Kane in Skechers' case and Antoine Griezmann for Decathlon, but the initial excitement and curiosity gradually gave way to relative indifference because this first step was not followed by collections capable of capturing fans' attention. They also failed to build on those signings by bringing in other top-level players who could match the status of their first superstars. Let's be clear: there are only a handful of players who can match Mbappé's status, and all of them will have the Swoosh or the three stripes on their boots for years to come. What On needs to avoid is having one great footballer at the top of its roster surrounded by a series of supporting players.
A positive example in this case could come from New Balance, which over the years has built an impressive roster by bringing together a group of high-level players with a similar style of play. The brand also pulled off what was, at the time, a sensational signing a couple of years ago by reaching an agreement with Endrick, who was about to leave Brazil for Real Madrid, and whose foresight meant that at the latest World Cup the brand was on the feet of the most exciting player, Yan Diomande. Not to mention that the best advert to come out of the 2026 World Cup was Under Armour's campaign celebrating the fact that Ferran Torres' boots were not pink.
Why shirts will be decisive for On
This brings us to a second factor: sooner or later, On will have to enter the world of shirts if it really wants to leave its mark. It is a matter of principle. Shirts are what move the emotions, and the money, of fans. If boots are the main reason On has entered football, kits could become the tool through which it builds a place in the sport's history. The best example is Nike, whose path On appears to have the potential to follow.
After producing football boots from the 1970 World Cup onwards, Nike decided in 1993 to move into shirts as well, signing its first-ever football sponsorship deal with a team: Brescello. From there began an ascent, still ongoing today, towards the elite of football, with jerseys providing extraordinary momentum, also thanks to the involvement of designers who did not simply borrow elements from Nike kits used in other sports, but instead created a new aesthetic identity that still represents the benchmark today.
On could therefore repeat the same operation, developing its own new language of patterns and designs. New, that is, because frankly, applying its current aesthetic to football, seen mainly in tennis, with these dotted patterns blending different colour tones through gradient effects, does not feel like the kind of aesthetic solution capable of winning over fans, who are accustomed to solid colours or stripes. Of course, it has worked outside tennis too, as demonstrated by the new kits of FIDAL, but something more is needed.
Thierry Henry's role in the On Football project
As far as we are concerned, we are very confident about the path On will take in football. And it is not just because of the signing of Mbappé, but also, if not above all, because of the presence of Thierry Henry. His name is synonymous with quality. Exceptional quality. That was true during the first chapter of his career, as a footballer, when he wrote Arsenal's history as part of the Invincibles. The same is happening now in the second chapter of his career, as a TV pundit for CBS, where he is part of the world's most famous television show dedicated to the Champions League. There could hardly have been a better name to pair with Roger Federer in terms of status. And then there is the aura that surrounds him, built in part through an obsessive attention to his image and to his body, the result of a series of brutal training sessions that he himself describes as the ultimate expression of discipline.
As On confirmed in its official statement, Henry has worked closely with the brand since the end of 2025 to define every aspect of its entry into the market and its product strategy. "To create something new in football, you need a bold and original approach". That quote alone gives you an idea of why Henry's appointment could be the strongest possible guarantee of On's long-term vision. This is not simply about offering advice on how to make a football boot, but about having a say in every detail, from its design to its launch. In practice, Henry is bringing his football know-how, shaped by his experience as a player, coach and commentator, together with the strategic expertise of a brand that in less than 20 years has gone from being a niche label for hardcore runners to becoming the technical sponsor of one of the best footballers in the world.
On and women's football: Sydney Schertenleib's role
There is another aspect worth highlighting, one that immediately sets On apart from any other brand to have recently taken its first steps into football. Alongside Mbappé and Henry, On has also announced the signing of Sydney Schertenleib, the Swiss footballer born in 2007 who plays for Barcelona. This is far from a secondary choice, especially considering the player's age and the context in which she operates: Schertenleib represents a new generation of female footballers and connects the On Football project to one of the biggest clubs in the world when it comes to women's football too. It is a powerful statement: On has decided to invest in women's football from day one, recognising the commercial potential, as well as the wider importance, of a movement that outside Italy continues to grow at an extraordinary pace, attracting new audiences, interest and space within the sports industry.
Schertenleib's presence, then, seems to go beyond the simple choice of a brand ambassador. It can be read as a clear indication of the direction On wants to take with its entry into football: building a cross-sectional project capable of speaking to different audiences and not treating women's football as a natural extension of the men's game, but as a space to invest in from the very beginning. This is also why it will be interesting to see how much of this choice will make its way into the products arriving over the coming months. It would be reasonable to expect further developments in the build-up to the Women's World Cup, which will take place in Brazil in 2027: dedicated boots, a collection designed specifically for the tournament, or perhaps the signing of another world-class female player just ahead of the competition. In a project that is still in its early stages, every new signing and every new product could help define how On intends to build its identity in football.
How far can On go in football?
So, answering this question today would be an almost pointless exercise in opinion, one that could very easily come back to haunt us. Quite simply because there are not enough concrete elements to form a judgement. We can only trust our instincts, and they are telling us that On has entered football to break the mould. It will do so through its boots. It will most likely do so through its own shirts. And without a doubt, it will happen through the athletes it signs. After all, with its first signing alone, it has already disrupted the status quo of the business, and it will not be long before it finds the football equivalent of João Fonseca in tennis: a young athlete destined to break the mould once again.
If we wanted to draw a comparison, On gives off the same vibes as Nike's entry into football. It did not simply arrive to stay; it arrived to change the rules of the game, overturn the hierarchy and create a new aesthetic. As we have tried to highlight throughout this article, there are still questions to be answered, including the simple matter of whether On will be able to create its own football heritage or whether it will rely on other brands, perhaps acquiring them and partly following the path Nike took with Umbro in 2007.
But that is precisely what makes this so interesting. On does not yet have a history in football to defend, an established aesthetic to respect or a heritage to protect. It therefore has something the established players in the industry can no longer afford: the freedom to start from scratch. If it can turn that freedom into a recognisable language, then its entry into football could become something more than another market operation. It could mark the beginning of a new phase in the way sport, design and football culture intersect. To find out whether that will really be the case, however, we will have to wait for On to start putting its ideas on the pitch. Literally.
