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Dirty TackleLeaked Adidas player endorsement contract contains Scientology forfeit clause
Last week, German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel published excerpts from an Adidas player endorsement contract that somehow fell into their possession. The deal is with an unnamed Bayern Munich and national team player, who earned €400,000 in 2011/12 for wearing the three stripes.
The contract showed that Adidas reserved the right to prematurely cancel the arrangement if the player was convicted of "drug possession, drug use or drug trafficking," if he didn't fulfil at least six days per year of PR duties or if he was found guilty of the heinous crime of wearing a competitor's sports apparel.
These all appear to be fairly standard clauses, but the contract curiously stipulated that the relationship would also be over if the player was discovered "belonging to any organization or association which represents the principles of L. Ron Hubbard."
According to a statement obtained from Adidas by Der Spiegel, "Scientology and other such unconstitutional organizations are incompatible" with their brand.
It's not known which player was subjected to a clause that doesn't appear to be in the interest of diversity or tolerance, but it definitely wasn't Mario Gotze, who has angered Adidas several times by wearing his Nike swooshes when he is not supposed to.
H/T: The Observer
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