Today the Reebok have announced their return to football on a three-year deal with Botafogo. Interestingly, the brand’s current owner, Canadian Jamie Salter, is also John Textor’s partner at Eagle Football Holdings. The company holds a minority stake in Crystal Palace, in addition to owning 90% of SAF Botafogo80% of Molenbeek, the Belgian second division team, and have a share of Lyonof France.

Until now, Botafogo used a provisional line, without displaying a brand, as Kappa left the club in March. In Brazil, RB Brasil Artigos Esportivos is responsible for managing Reebok and will be responsible for the Fogão keychain.

Salter, through his company Authentic Brands Group (ABG), bought Reebok from adidas in August last year. He paid $2.5 billion for the brand which was acquired by the German company in 2006 for $3.8 billion.. At the time, adidas’ goal was to get Reebok to close the gap with Nike.

When Kasper Rorsted took over as CEO of adidas in 2016, he launched a turnaround plan for Reebok, which helped it return to profitability, but its performance continued to decline when it was hit by the pandemic.

Today, the Authentic Brands Group (ABG) portfolio includes more than 30 brands sold in approximately 6,000 stores. They are in the media, entertainment, fashion, home, active lifestyle and outdoor industries. Among them, Aéropostale, Forever21 and Sports Illustrated magazine.

By buying 66.56% of the shares of Lyon, John Textor benefited from the financial assistance of Salter in the transaction. In addition, Textor also had a 523 million euro line of credit with Cannae, investor Bill Foley, who also owns the Vegas Golden Knights, a franchise that plays in the NHL. Part or all of the investment can be converted into shares of Eagle Football, Textor’s company, of which Salter is also a partner.