FRANKFURT: The German football federation is set to extend its historic, long-time partnership with sportswear giant Adidas.

The Bavaria-based equipment manufacturer has supplied the German national side since 1954 and will continue to do so until 2022 under the reported new deal.

The current contract between the two runs until the end of 2018, with the four-year extension being only half the length of the previous eight-year deal the two struck.

This is part of a concession to the pressure from rival Nike which had been hoping to break the 60-year partnership with a record-breaking bid to supply kit to the current world champions.

The new contract also removes Adidas’ long-standing ‘offer matching’ clause, which required the DFB to inform Adidas of any rival bid and give it the opportunity to match.

The DFB is keen to keep Nike on side and encourage further bids from the United States company in order to prevent Adidas from dictating its own price in future negotiations.

Rumours earlier this year suggested that Adidas was ready to sign a 10-year extension to the deal, worth €75m ($85.7m) a year, which would have been by far the biggest deal in international football.

The next largest, Nike’s deal with France, comes in at €42.6m-a-year. The current reports suggest the duration is significantly less than that, though no details have yet been released on the value of the agreement.

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