Tim Hortons has signed a multi-year jersey deal with adidas for its Timbits Soccer program, giving 250,000+ young players across Canada new co-branded kits starting this May. The partnership pairs Canada’s largest restaurant chain with one of the world’s top sportswear brands around a grassroots program that has operated since 1993.
Key Takeaways
- Timbits Soccer serves more than 250,000 boys and girls aged three to seven in house league soccer annually across Canada
- adidas will produce new Timbits Soccer jerseys distributed to players at the start of the May season
- An adult-sized Celebration Jersey goes on sale exclusively at select Tim Hortons locations and TimShop.ca in June
- The deal builds on a 2024 collaboration when adidas created limited-edition donut-inspired sneakers for Tim Hortons’ 60th anniversary
- 2026 marks 30+ years of Timbits Soccer and the 50th anniversary of Timbits as a product line
What 250,000 Participants Mean for an Apparel Partner
The Timbits Soccer program delivers a single brand partner 250,000 jersey wearers per season, all concentrated in the ages three to seven demographic. For adidas, the deal provides logo visibility on every field where Timbits Soccer operates, backed by nearly 4,000 Tim Hortons restaurants nationwide reinforcing the brand at retail.
Kelly Graham, Head of Marketing at adidas Canada, framed the deal around grassroots reach: “Equipping young players with adidas jerseys allows us to champion the spirit of grassroots sports and inspire a lifelong love for sport and community across Canada.”
The relationship is not new. adidas and Tim Hortons first collaborated in 2024 with limited-edition donut-inspired sneakers. The two brands have now extended their relationship into a multi-year youth jersey partnership.
Beyond Jerseys: Retail and Cross-Promotion
Tim Hortons is layering the partnership with consumer-facing activations. A TV campaign featuring Canadian soccer star Jonathan David was set to begin airing in the weeks ahead of April 22, 2026. New soccer-themed Timbits Buckets, a colour-changing cold cup with a soccer straw buddy, and a Timbits Soccer water bottle will hit stores.
The brand also launched a grocery cross-promotion: a free 10-pack of Timbits in-restaurant with any $20 purchase of eligible Tims at Home products at participating grocery retailers, running May 4 through July 17.
Hope Bagozzi, Chief Marketing Officer for Tim Hortons, noted the scale: “Tim Hortons supports more than 250,000 youth through Timbits Soccer every season and we’re incredibly proud of the legacy of the program and how Tims restaurant owners across the country champion young people in their communities.”
A Model for Youth Sports Sponsorship at Scale
The structure here is worth studying for operators running large community-level programs. Tim Hortons did not simply slap a logo on a jersey. It built a more than 30-year-old grassroots platform with guaranteed annual participation, then attracted a premium apparel partner willing to produce co-branded product at scale and fund retail merchandise lines.
For youth sports organizations and league operators exploring apparel partnerships, the Timbits Soccer model offers a blueprint: build consistent participation numbers first, then bring apparel brands to the table with a distribution story they cannot replicate through traditional retail alone. A quarter-million kids wearing your co-branded jersey every spring is a compelling pitch to any sportswear company.
Timbits Soccer adidas Partnership for Youth Sports Operators
Club directors and facility investors running scaled community programs now have a concrete benchmark. Tim Hortons built more than 30 years of consistent annual participation, reaching 250,000 players per season, before bringing adidas to the table with a distribution story no traditional retailer can match. Operators managing multi-thousand-participant leagues should document annual participation data and age-band demographics now, because those numbers form the foundation of any apparel partnership conversation. The Timbits Soccer model confirms the jersey sponsorship opportunity lives downstream of scale, not before it. directly.
Source: Newswire Ca
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