20 Best Soccer Affiliate Programs (Apparel, Equipment, and Others)

A Premier League supporter spends about 13% of their salary on buying soccer items (Creditfix). What an impressive report, right?

If you’re looking to monetize your sports blog or social media channels, soccer affiliate programs offer a great opportunity.

In this article, we’ve collected 20 soccer affiliate programs, including leading retailers and famous clubs. Consider commission rates and choose the right program for you.

In addition to soccer, we’ve curated a selection of top sports affiliate programs for you to consider. Check out our picks for American football, baseball, basketball, golf, and wrestling.

TL;DR

We have listed the top soccer affiliate programs for you to consider. Let’s see how much money you can make from your sport-related content.

• Soccer Box (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 60 days)
• Vintage football shirts  (Commission: 10%, Cookie: 30 days)
• Nike (Commission: 15%, Cookie: 7 days)
• Fanatics (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 7 days)
• Puma (Commission: 7%, Cookie: 14 days)
• Manchester United (Commission: 3%, Cookie: 7 days)
• Umbro (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 30 days)
• MLS Store (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 7 days)
• Soccer Garage (Commission: 7-10%, Cookie: 60 days)
• Under Amour (Commission: 5%, Cookie: 30 days)

Affiliate marketing allows brands to expand their reach while optimizing their marketing budget. With UpPromote affiliate software, you can set up an affiliate program in under 5 minutes. You can also easily recruit, manage affiliates and encourage them to drive sales.

Top 20 Best Soccer Affiliate Programs To Boost Your Income

Need a quick glance? Find the most highlighted soccer programs in the table below.

1. Soccer Box

Soccer Box is among the main suppliers of football kits for football leading clubs and national teams. They provide a wide range of products, including soccer shirts, socks, training wear, and more.

The Soccer Box football affiliate program offers a commission rate of 8% for every successful order through an affiliate link.

The cookie duration is 60 days. Therefore, you can have approved referrals when customers purchase the products within 2 months from their first click.

2. Vintage football shirts

Vintage football shirts bring you back to rare soccer kits in the early 80s. Their collections have both the latest football items from famous clubs and old-designed, classic shirts for you to collect.

The Vintage football shirts affiliate program is run through Webgain. The commission is 10% without VAT, and the cookie lasts 30 days.

When joining as their partner, you can have creative banners and data feed from Vintage football shirts. These tools will be available for you to promote the products.

3. Nike

Nike has always been one of the top sponsors for most national football teams, along with Adidas. They have released renowned soccer kit collections featuring football superstars such as Ronaldo and Mbappe.

The Nike affiliate program is managed by CJ Affiliate and is only available for the US sale. Their affiliates can earn up to 15% per US item. The cookie duration is only 7 days, which means referrals can only be credited within a week.

Nike will send exclusive newsletters to affiliates, so they will be the first to know about upcoming sales and product drops. They also give their partners access to updated product feeds and specific banners.

4. Fanatics

Fanatics is leading the industry with licensed sports merchandise for famous leagues, such as MLS, NFL, or MLB. They have all the soccer items that you’re looking for, including training wear, shoes, balls, and so on.

Fanatics allows their affiliates to earn an 8% commission rate on every sale. However, the cookie duration only lasts for 7 days. Fanatics pays affiliates payouts monthly for approved commissions.

Fanatics is well-known for their award-winning support towards partners with easy-to-use tools and monthly payouts. They also provide a 24/7 reporting dashboard to help you track your commission and traffic.

5. Puma

Puma is the third-largest sports manufacturer in the world. They produce not only professional training kits for soccer and athletics but also casual footwear for everyday wear.

Affiliates can earn a 7% commission rate when joining the Puma affiliate program. The cookie duration has a tracking period of 2 weeks, which means you could earn referrals in only 14 days from the customers’ first click.

Puma gives affiliate-exclusive offers when affiliates are approved for their program. They also update daily product feeds and upcoming sales for affiliates to gain more attention from audiences.

6. Manchester United

Manchester United is one of the most famous football clubs competing in the Premier League. Their official store is the direct distributor of their soccer players’ items with the latest launches.

Managed through Impact, the Manchester United affiliate program offers a 3% commission rate per sale and a cookie duration of 7 days.

Discount codes are available for affiliates to use during their promotions. Manchester United will regularly give out these codes to support their partners.

7. Umbro

Umbro has celebrated their 100-year anniversary as a soccer equipment brand and manufacturer. They specialize in football and rugby sportswear featuring their Double Diamond logo.

Affiliates can receive up to an 8% commission rate on net sales, except for VAT and returns. The Umbro affiliate program provides a cookie duration that remains active for 30 days.

Umbro gives their affiliate the chance to earn more commission during special promotions. Umbro also updates new collections regularly, so you can attract buyers with the latest trends in the soccer industry.

8. MLS Store

The MLS Store sells official merchandise for Major League Soccer annually. You can discover the diverse seasonal collections of MLS jerseys, kits, scarves, shirts, and much more.

MLS Store runs their affiliate program through Impact. The commission rate is 8% for each sale, and the cookie duration lasts only 7 days.

Affiliates will have a reporting dashboard to track traffic and commissions. Moreover, the MLS Store has various easy-to-use tools for affiliates to boost the promotion campaigns.

9. Soccer Garage

Soccer Garage is an online retailer of every sports item, ranging from jerseys, socks, and equipment to medical tools. Not only professional clubs but Soccer Garage also has soccer kits for local high schools and colleges.

The Soccer Garage pays commissions depending on your monthly sales through affiliate links:

• 7% for $1-$3,499 monthly sales
• 8% for $3,500-$5,499 monthly sales
• 9% for $5,500-$7,499 monthly sales
• 10% for $7,500+ monthly sales

The average order value is almost $100, which means you can earn from $7 to $10 per successful order. The cookie duration lasts 60 days from the first click.

Soccer Garage’s average conversion rate is stable at 3%. Additionally, they have a dedicated affiliate team to support your promotion.

10. Under Amour

Under Amour is famous for their zero-gravity sportswear in soccer, running, and various sports. Their products could keep athletics cool, dry, and light even after hardcore training and competitions.

Under Amour affiliate program is powered by Awin. The commission rate is 5%, and the AOV (average order value) is $100, so you could earn bout 5$ per sale. The cookie duration is active for 30 days before expiring.

Under Amour updates their data feed daily for affiliates. You can also access their monthly banners and text links with various options to choose from for your affiliate promotion.

11. Soccer.com

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration: 7 days

Soccer.com stands out as a top online retailer of soccer gear, apparel, and accessories. Soccer.com affiliate program lets you earn up to 10% commission with a 7-day cookie window.

12. Soccerloco.com

Soccerloco is a popular online retailer specializing in soccer equipment and apparel. The brand is famous for their competitive prices, fast shipping, and excellent customer service. You can join the Soccerloco affiliate programs to receive 8-10% commissions per sale.

13. Dick’s Sporting Good

• Commission rate: 2%
• Cookie duration: 3 days

DICK’s Sporting Goods is a top retailer of authentic sports apparel, footwear, and accessories in the US. Most of their products are from Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and more.

14. Paragon Sports

• Commission rate: 8%
• Cookie duration: 7 days

Paragon Sports has over 100 years of working on selling the best quality of sports equipment, including soccer and tennis. At Paragon Sports, you can find soccer kits from both well-known brands and lesser-known, unique brands.

15. Concave

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Concave is becoming a famous name in the soccer niche for their powerful shoes. They focus mostly on football, soccer, rugby, and Australian Football.

16. Wegotsoccer

• Commission rate: 5%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Wegotsoccer is the dream destination for every football fan as a leading online retailer. Their collection features Puma, Nike, Adidas, and other famous brands in the sports industry.

17. Lovell Soccer

• Commission rate: 1-5%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

At Lovell Soccer, you can find cheap and discounted authentic football and soccer boots. They have been among the leading online football retailers in the UK for years.

18. Footballflick

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Footballflick contains soccer items for every age group, from children under 8 to professional players. They are the pioneers in providing football training products for home training.

19. SPT

• Commission rate: 5%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

SPT has built GPS tracking solutions for monitoring and tracking physical output. Their GPS is mainly used for football, soccer, rugby, and other outdoor sports.

20. Train Effective

• Commission rate: 5-25%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Train Effective offers various soccer training courses online for you to practice at home. You can join any of their professional training with coaches to improve your football skills.

How to Create an Affiliate Program for Your Soccer Brand on Shopify

Soccer has always been the king of sports with millions of worldwide fans. The revenue for soccer-related merchandise is projected to reach nearly $7 billion in 2025.

This presents a massive opportunity for soccer brands to grow their online business. However, building trust in a big industry like soccer requires a smart marketing strategy to truly stand out.

While other advertising methods cost you a huge budget, affiliate marketing is a considerable option without upfront costs.

Having an effective affiliate program can help you increase brand awareness through influencers and reach a larger soccer enthusiasts.

In the following sections, we’ll guide you on how to set up and manage a soccer affiliate program from the beginning.

Get a suitable affiliate management tool for your Shopify store

An effective affiliate management tool can help you manage your soccer affiliate program effortlessly from the beginning.

Have you ever tried to run a soccer affiliate program manually?

It can be controlled with just 5 to 10 affiliates, but managing 50 affiliates is another story.

Everything can be out of control, as you have to handle more complex tasks on your own.

It’s harder to track real-time affiliate performance, organize data, and sometimes distribute the wrong marketing materials.

With a top recommended affiliate management tool like UpPromote, you can easily handle these tasks.

We provide a comprehensive analytics dashboard to track all affiliates’ real-time data. Plus, you can easily arrange unlimited marketing materials into specific categories without mistakes.

What’s more, our automated workflows help you save time and effort in giving out coupons, paying affiliates, and approving orders.

If you want to explore more about UpPromote’s diverse and robust features, we provide a 14-day free trial across all plans.

Create a rewarding commission structure

A rewarding commission structure can draw the first attention of affiliates when they consider joining your soccer affiliate program.

Beyond attraction, getting a fairly commission rate can also ensure their long-term partnership and performance.

So, how do you set up the right commission rate? It regularly depends on product profits, popularity, and market competitiveness.

We’ve done a survey on over 120 soccer brands in the industry to give you more specific insights.

For soccer products with higher profit margins, like equipment and accessories, we recommend you set the commission rate at 8-12%.

These items are often cheaper to produce and appeal to different types of players. That’s why even with a 12% commission rate for a $30 goalkeeper glove, your brand can still ensure positive margins.

On the other hand, you should set a lower commission rate at 5-7% for licensed team jerseys and kits. While these products are in higher demand, their license fees could cut into your profits.

If your sports products are as expensive as Nike, Puma, or Adidas ($300-700), setting the commission rate at 4-6% is fine.

Since these brands are dominating the industry, it would be more challenging for you to set a higher commission rate while keeping your brand profitable.

Meanwhile, we suggest setting only 2-4% commission on multi-sports and general gear. A sports retailer who worked with us failed to retain their profits after setting a 10% commission to attract more affiliates.

After switching to a 6% commission, they still attract around 20 new affiliates monthly while doubling their revenue.

Set up a suitable cookie duration

A cookie duration can affect your soccer affiliates’ chance of bringing successful sales.

We’ve noticed most Shopify soccer merchants set cookie duration based on buying behavior and competition.

• Jerseys and Apparel, Multi-Sport and General Sports Gear: 7-15 days

Enthusiastic soccer fans often purchase official jerseys or sports gear without hesitation following big events.

If your brand also mainly provides these apparel, a cookie duration of 7-15 days can work well.

We learned this after a Shopify merchant recorded a 64% increase in jersey sales during the World Cup finals. The best part is that most sales happened within the first 9 days after a team’s victory announcement.

Plus, a short cookie duration can create a sense of urgency for affiliates to put more effort.

• Footwear and Cleats, Premium Jerseys/Kits: 15-30 days

Unlike normal apparel, premium soccer kits or cleats require a longer time to consider.

Fans can explore different customization options or even wait until payday to get their favorite items.

For this reason, setting the cookie duration at 15 to 30 days is a great choice.

• Soccer Equipment and Accessories & High-end Footwear: 30-60 days

The main audience of soccer equipment like balls, gloves, or training cones is often schools, teams, and clubs. That’s why it takes more time for the final buying decision.

We learned that a 30 to 60-day cookie duration is suitable for these products following our merchants’ success.

One of our merchants set a 60-day cookie duration from the beginning. It turned out to be a great decision, as even for high-end footwear, their sales are 3x higher than other merchants within our system.

Partner with the right affiliates for your soccer affiliate program

Working with the right soccer affiliates means that you can easily target a passionate audience. It’s always better and faster to boost conversions from loyal soccer fans.

We’ll show you how to identify the right partners for your soccer affiliate program and some effective ways to approach them.

Who are your right partners?

Promoting in such a huge industry like soccer can be overwhelming, especially if the affiliate doesn’t know your product well.

So, your ideal affiliates should be those with soccer expertise, established audiences, and genuine interest in your specific products.

No one knows more about soccer and its related products than enthusiastic fans. Their passion, knowledge, and deep connection make their promotional content feel authentic and genuine.

Plus, soccer fans often believe in others’ reviews rather than watching paid-ad videos.

For example, @realnickrtfm is a famous sports fan on TikTok. His videos are mainly football match reactions and the latest football clubs’ merchandise.

His review videos often gain a large attention from fans. Most fans usually wait for his review before making a purchase.

Another option for you to consider is collaborating with soccer influencers. They can easily help you grow your brand name within the soccer market.

Most top influencers in the soccer industry are professional players, so partnering with them can be challenging. Their schedules are packed, their fees are high, and they often work exclusively with large brands.

But you don’t have to worry. We’ve identified some smaller influencers but yet potential for you. These are often bloggers, YouTubers, TikTok creators, and Instagram fanclub accounts.

• Arellanooooo_ (24k followers on Instagram)
• Lilgabefreestyles (7,8k followers on Instagram)
• damikomarbleshow (41k followers on TikTok)
• Kafredbala (31k followers on TikTok)

Reaching out to these influencers is often easier for merchants to get a collaboration.

Moreover, most of our Shopify soccer merchants revealed that they often partner with trainers or online coaches.

These individuals bring a unique and expert review of your soccer equipment. Besides online content, they can even host sharing webinars, workshops, or live training sessions for in-depth engagement.

An UpPromote merchant used to partner with an online youth soccer coach. After the coach created a video series on using their agility ladders, the sales went straight up 2x within 3 months.

How to approach these affiliates?

1. Set up registration form

One of the easiest ways to partner with the right audience is through a registration form.

Having a well-designed form helps merchants identify potential affiliates and gather essential information about their experience and audience.

UpPromote makes everything simple by allowing you to customize a registration form that matches your brand.

Plus, you can even save more time with our three pre-designed and trendy registration form templates.

Then, you can add detailed program information, upload your brand images, and include specific questions to identify the perfect fit for your soccer affiliate program.

If you have no idea of what questions to ask, we recommend you add content-related ones.

Here are some examples for you to consider:

• Who is your target audience in the soccer industry?
• How do you engage with your audience (social media platform, means of content)
• What is the size of your audience?
• Have you worked with other soccer-related brands before?
• Do you focus on any specific soccer niches?

With these questions, you can see if their content and audience match your brand. Plus, you can also evaluate their engagement quality through platforms to filter out high-quality affiliates.

2. Reach out manually

Instead of waiting for affiliates to come to you, you can actively reach out to them.

Manually reaching out to affiliates can be more time-consuming, but it’s a great way to show your commitment to those desired affiliates.

For a professional and warm welcome, we always recommend that our merchants write an email.

This way, you can show your affiliate collaboration offers and your Shopify brand’s products. If you’re still wondering how this email should look, here’s a sample for you:

While direct email outreach is effective, for a massive industry like soccer, you should also join their online communities. Most highly qualified affiliates are already active members within these communities.

These communities span across multiple platforms, so it requires time to identify which ones contain the most valuable potential affiliates for you.

To save you time, here are some qualified communities for you:

• Reddit: r/soccer (8.3M members), r/MLS (966k members)
• Forum: BigSoccer (1M members)
• Facebook: FOOTBALL GIST (695k members)

After joining these communities, you should engage naturally to be part of them. We suggest you regularly give soccer knowledge and tips to connect with top active members.

This way, you can broaden your relationships with the members. If you find a matched partner, you can send a short DM and naturally mention collaboration offers, like this:

Provides affiliates with suitable soccer marketing materials

While affiliates are skilled promoters, providing them with pre-made materials can ensure your brand consistency.

Giving out visual assets to your affiliates can help them enhance promotion quality. You should provide high-quality product images in action, like cleats on the field, to help affiliates connect more with the audience.

Banners and graphics are also especially impactful. You can provide them with website banners as well as social media-friendly graphics. Plus, these materials should come with catchy and attractive taglines.

You can update all of these materials within the UpPromote Media Gallery with ease. We allow our merchants to bulk upload images in high quality within seconds.

Moreover, affiliates can produce various types of soccer-related videos. So, you can regularly update product reviews, shorts, and action-packed clips to keep their content fresh and relevant.

Besides visual content, you should also help your affiliates during the main soccer seasons and events like the World Cup, the Euro, and MLS.

Our merchants often prepare for seasonal campaigns with various voucher codes and limited-time offers. Then, giving affiliates these resources helps them create timely and event-focused promotions.

Motivate affiliates to boost sales for your Shopify soccer store

Only when affiliates feel motivated will they contribute more to boost your soccer brand’s sales. Plus, you can even aim for long-term relationships with top affiliates if you reward them fairly.

Having a competitive commission rate can effectively boost your affiliates’ motivation. After all, the ultimate goal is to increase passive income.

To reward affiliates, we recommend you use the tiered commission model. Most soccer merchants within UpPromote use this structure to incentivize affiliates to perform better after every sales milestone.

You can also test if this commission structure can work well for your soccer affiliate program. We suggest you use a structure like this:

• Tier 1 (0-15 sales/month): 5% commission
• Tier 2 (16-25 sales/month): 10% commission
• Tier 3 (25+ sales/month): 15% commission

Beyond commission structures, you can further boost motivation through competitions.

If you want to spark interest and competitiveness in your affiliates, running a contest is also a great idea. You can reward affiliates who generate the most sales within a period with cash bonuses or special soccer equipment.

For example, you run a “Promote our World Cup Collection and win” contest during the World Cup season. Then, you can provide enticing prizes like limited-edition World Cup merchandise or a custom jersey signed by their favorite players.

Such targeted, timely contests create excitement and drive higher performance during peak sales periods.

Conclusion

Standing out among thousands of soccer companies and retailers is possible with affiliate marketing. With the booming spread of affiliate marketing, it’s the right time for you to build your soccer affiliate program.

There’s a lot of work to have a great start, but with UpPromote, everything feels effortless. Our comprehensive features simplify tracking, managing affiliates, and optimizing your program to grow your brand effectively.