Adidas are suing Barcelona's Rafinha | OneFootball

Barcelona midfielder Rafinha is being taken to court by adidas over an alleged breach of contract.

Back in 2013, Rafinha signed a sponsorship deal with the German sportswear giant which required him to wear their boots during matches and their clothing during official media appearances.

That contract ended in June this year but adidas claim the midfielder didn’t respond to any extension requests and they therefore automatically extended the deal until March 2023.

However, Rafinha claims his agreement with the company expired on 1 July and for most of this season, he was been wearing blacked out Mizuno boots instead.

Adidas say this is a clear breach of contract and they are demanding the 25-year-old coughs up a staggering €100,000 for each day he refuses to wear their boots.

According to the company’s lawyer Dolf Segaar, the case is being handled at a court in Amsterdam as “the Adidas venture with whom Rafinha signed a contract is based in the Dutch capital”.

Rafinha – brother of Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcântara – has made eight appearances so far this season but is not expected to play again this term after undergoing knee ligament surgery.

He isn’t the first Barcelona player to find himself in a legal battle with Adidas. In the 1970s, Johann Cruyff took them to court after their manufacture of the Dutch national team’s kit threatened to jeopardise his sponsorship deal with rivals Puma.

Cruyff won the case and at the 1974 World Cup, his Netherlands jersey featured only two stripes on the sleeves as opposed to adidas’ trademark three.