“Two Icons Collide”: LeBron James Showcases Jersey Collab with Liverpool Star Virgil Van Dijk

Aside from basketball, LeBron James is also known for his savvy business decisions, leading him to his current $1 billion net worth. Two of his best deals were signing a lifetime contract with Nike and buying stakes in the Premier League soccer club, Liverpool FC. James and Liverpool have taken their partnership to the next level by collaborating for an exclusive Liverpool apparel launched by the club’s kit sponsors, Nike. The collaboration features the club’s captain and star Dutch defender, Virgil Van Dijk alongside LeBron James to launch Chapter 2 of the LeBron James x Liverpool FC, just days after James reached 40,000 career points.

Chapter 2 of the LBJ x LFC collaboration brings in a fusion of basketball and soccer aesthetics. It includes a limited edition basketball jersey, a football t-shirt, and a fresh revamp of James’ signature Nike LeBron sneakers. The color palette for the basketball jersey was chosen to reminisce Liverpool’s classic kit colors, such as the teal away strip. Nike football announced this collaboration on their Instagram page with an apt caption, “Two icons collide.” 

Both the jerseys carry LFC’s famous “YNWA” (You’ll Never Walk Alone) print motif around the midriff alongside LeBron James’ personal motivational phrase “SFG” (Strive for Greatness). The football shirt’s colors feature black with gold and a teal trim alongside tonal checkerboard patterns made up of squares, stripes, and the aforementioned phrases. The jersey also prominently features the King James logo alongside the Liverpool crest. James has shared his excitement for this collaboration on his IG story with the caption, YNWA.

The collaboration is an exciting ordeal for both Liverpool and LeBron James, who are eager to see the anticipation amongst fans for this unique collaboration. Adding his thoughts, Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk said, “It’s great to have worked alongside LeBron to launch this collaboration. I’m excited for everyone to see what we’ve created.”

LFC has been playing great soccer over the past few weeks and currently stands in title contention against rivals Arsenal and Manchester City. With just one point behind City in the title race, if Liverpool can hold their place on top of the table, perhaps they could even win their second title in five years, also marking their second championship in the era of Premier League in English football. Given that he has a two percent stake in the club, this would undoubtedly make James magnanimously happy as well.

LeBron James’ investment in Liverpool opened him with avenues for other ventures

LeBron James became a minority owner of Liverpool FC after purchasing a 2% stake in the soccer club in 2011. At that time, James was playing for the Miami Heat and had reportedly spent $6.5 million on this investment. Today, Liverpool is the fourth most valuable soccer club worth $4.45 billion, behind Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Manchester United.

In 2022, James converted his ownership stake in the club to a roughly 1% stake in the Fenway Sports Group, the owners of Liverpool FC. With this deal, James, alongside business partners Maverick Carter and Paul Wachter, also became owners of other FSG-owned ventures, such as the MLB team Boston Red Sox, the Fenway Park Stadium, and the NHL franchise Pittsburgh Penguins.

At the time of finalizing this deal, Liverpool was valued at $4.1 billion while generating an annual income of $619 million, as per figures from the 2019/20 season. Hence, the 4x NBA champion easily made a profit of around $44 million, given the worth of his stake in the 6x European champion soccer club.