Koffee Teams Up With Arsenal, Adidas
Grammy Award-winning singer Koffee donned Arsenal’s new Jamaica-inspired, adidas-designed pre-match jersey, for her performance at the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday.
The jersey, which is made of the Jamaican national colours – black, gold and green feature a bold, all-over geometric print and according to Arsenal, was designed and revealed at the carnival in a bid to celebrate its Jamaican supporters.
On Tuesday, Koffee, Arsenal and adidas London shared images of herself at the event, clad in a pair of green adidas Firebird track pants with white Three Stripe branding and triple white Superstars.
“Notting Hill Carnival 🇯🇲 🔥with the @adidaslondon and @arsenal family,” she noted on her Instagram page, while Arsenal noted: “Gratitude is a must. @originalkoffee delivering the ultimate warm-up this carnival, featuring our 22/23 pre-match shirt 🔥,” on its Instagram page.
On Jamaica’s Independence Day, August 6, adidas Football had announced that it would be outfitting all the Jamaican national football teams come 2023, and would be supplying not just the kits, but all other on and off-pitch gear for the squads.
PULL UP!!! 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲
see you in 2023 @jff_football pic.twitter.com/4fyAQARelY— adidas Football (@adidasfootball) August 6, 2022
Jamaica’s football teams have been sponsored by Umbro since 2018. In the past, the Reggae boys have been outfitted by Romai, Uhlsport, Kappa and Lanzera.
On Independence Day, the Jamaica Football Federation had announced that adidas’ sponsorship would include all major tournaments in which Jamaica will participate.
The release also noted that the deal with adidas was cemented through the assistance of Sports 2 Business Sports Group, former Reggae Boy Fitzroy Simpson and lawyer Jonathan Himpe.
“All major tournaments in which the national teams compete are a part of the sponsorship and this will include the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which the Reggae Girlz recently qualified for,” the football governing body had stated, adding that country’s 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2026 FIFA World Cup campaigns are also included.
JFF president Michael Ricketts had also pointed out that the partnership would assist in developing football in the island, which will facilitate further success at the professional level in the future.
At the time, General manager of Adidas Global Football, Nick Craggs expressed delight at the long-term partnership with the JFF.
He noted that Jamaica’s football potential, evidenced by the back-to-back qualification FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification of the Reggae Girlz, along with the richness and global relevance of the culture, “which resonates far beyond football and Jamaica’s borders”, make it a great fit to join the Adidas’ international federations family.
As for the Notting Hill Carnival, it has been described as a celebratory balm that began in 1966, as a means of soothing racial and cultural tensions in the area. The carnival which is deeply-rooted in Caribbean culture mushroomed overtime into an event which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists as well as generates around £120 million for the London economy.
Koffee, who is a lover of football, is no stranger to being at the forefront of football branding and promotion. In 2020, she was featured on the list of Jamaican artists on the FIFA 2021 Soundtrack, a popular Football video game from EA Sports, along with her compatriots Buju Banton, Govana and producer Rvssian.
The Jamaicans were among 100 different artists from 23 countries across the world, which were featured.
Her Rapture remix with Govana was included on the VOLTA FOOTBALL version of the soundtrack, while “Unity” from Buju’s Grammy-nominated album Upside Down 2020 appeared on the main soundtrack.