2026 FIFA World Cup: Replica Kit Pricing

Lord Sikka Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The CMA does not come under DCMS, as people will understand, but we are keen to make sure that it has the teeth to take action. I have a line somewhere in my brief about the additional powers that we are giving it, and I know that those are intended specifically to give it the teeth to act decisively and provide the challenge as part of the regulatory regime that it operates.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, the production cost of a typical replica football kit is less than 10% of the selling price. Companies such as Nike and Adidas use an opaque network of offshore entities to inflate costs by adding royalty, licensing, marketing and other payments through intragroup transactions—in short, they shift profits. Does the Minister agree that profiteering cannot be tackled without an investigation of profit shifting by companies? If so, when will the Government commission that investigation?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

My noble friend has raised a number of issues. We are keen, to go back to the initial Question, to urge manufacturers to keep kits affordable. We want to make sure that football remains accessible, but pricing is ultimately a matter for the relevant football association and its manufacturing partners. We are not intending to dictate pricing in this respect, but we urge manufacturers to keep kits affordable to make sure that everyone can enjoy supporting our teams domestically and internationally and that we continue to share the highs and lows of our national sport.