Thierry Henry has spent nearly three decades at the highest levels of football, winning titles in England and Spain, lifting the World Cup and European Championship with France, and later moving into coaching and broadcasting. Now, Henry is taking on a different kind of role in the sport as On’s Director of Football, helping the Swiss brand build its football division from the ground up.
Henry has been involved with On’s push into football for nearly a year, working closely with the brand’s athletes and product teams as it develops its first generation of football boots. At the center of that process is On’s LightSpray technology, which uses a robotic arm to apply a continuous thermoplastic filament around the shoe in roughly three minutes, creating a lightweight construction without traditional stitching. But for Henry, the appeal goes beyond the technology itself. It’s about giving players a direct voice in what they wear and how the products are developed.
That approach is already taking shape through On’s work with Kylian Mbappé, who is helping develop his own football boot alongside Henry, as well as Swiss international star Sydney Schertenleib, with whom On is working to explore products designed specifically for women’s football. For Henry, that athlete involvement is a continuation of what he would have wanted during his own playing career.
“I would have loved to be involved with developing the product,” Henry tells Complex. “This is not us trying to give them something. It is our baby.”
Now in Zurich as On prepares to establish itself in football, Henry is bringing the perspective of a player, coach, and executive to a sport he believes is still limitless. From what he learned about leadership during his playing career to why he thinks modern football can sometimes feel too scripted, Henry is approaching his new role with the same curiosity that defined his career on the pitch.
We sat down with Henry in Zurich to talk about building On’s football division from the ground up, working alongside Mbappé and Schertenleib, the future of football boots, and what the game could learn from his era. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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Complex: You've been working behind the scenes on On's entry into football for almost a year. What made you believe that this was something worth building from the ground up?
Thierry Henry: What made me believe? The togetherness, how we're going to go about it. The innovation system of the LightSpray. The togetherness of it, because I do believe that at one point, if you are going to invest yourself into something, you're going to need time. You need to do it with the athletes. And so, when I've been told we were going to work with [Kylian] closely, he's going to have his input into what he's going to have to wear, and myself also, as a director of football, can have an impact on what's going to be put out there. The innovation system. I mean, you can see the boots, that thermoplastic filament that is sprayed continuously for, I mean, it takes three minutes, if I'm not mistaken, to go around that midsole attached to robot arms. Thirty grams, no stitching. It's something that moved me because when they talked to me about it, I was like, "What do you mean three minutes? What?" I didn't believe it at the very beginning. I came along and I was like, "Wow, this is crazy." And then you manage to be able to persuade the big man, Kylian, to make sure that he can tag along. Sydney [Schertenleib] is also along the way. It's just outstanding.
Also, what seduced me is that we can have an impact on women's football because, for a very long time, women played with men's boots, which is not very adaptable. So we're going to work closely with Sydney [Schertenleib] to make sure that we prepare the right boots for her and women in general. So that type of impact is also very important. As an ex-athlete myself, I know how much I would have loved to be involved with developing the product. That was a plus for me.
On has said that football doesn't need another brand doing the same thing. So what do you think football is missing right now?
Right now? Our boots on the field, that's what's missing right now. Joking aside, I don't like saying "missing" because it looks like, "We're that brand that's going to bring this." We're going to try to bring our philosophy, with our identity being genuine and how we are going to do it. That togetherness, that cohesion, that relationship with the player. And then, after, you're going to have to see the response of people and how they're going to take it.
But with all humility, you need to work on yourself. We have to make sure that we don't disappoint ourselves inside and we don't disappoint the athletes. The athletes being able to go out there to perform, that's the most important thing. I know what you mean when you say what's missing, but the "missing" looks like, "Oh, we have the solution." You know, we're not that pretentious. We're not like that, but we're bringing something that we hope that people are going to like.
You spent your career playing at the highest level, in the best leagues in the world. What part of your experience as a player has shaped how you're approaching this new role?
Understanding, you know, who you're with and how things work. Being patient, listening, being open, vulnerable, having empathy, and all the above. Sometimes you tend to forget things when you have to perform and you put yourself under too much stress and you don't let stuff happen organically. Sometimes you need to let things happen and see where it goes. You can't control everything. You learn to delegate. You need to learn how to trust your team. There are so many components that you need to have to be able to be successful.
And mainly, as I said earlier, you need Sydney and Kylian and whoever is going to come after, hopefully, to be happy in what they're going to wear. Along the way, them participating in developing the product will do that. This is not us trying to give them something. It is our baby, if you know what I mean. That's very important.
I would say one of the most important things is understanding how you need to delegate, be patient, and trust your team. Empathy and vulnerability are also key when you lead.
You're building this alongside Kylian Mbappé. What does he bring to the process that people might not see from the outside?
His experience. Kylian will bring his experience of how he likes stuff, how he wants them, how he wants them to look. And what he will get is what he wants, not what we're going to force on him. A perfect example is when [Kylian] didn't wear them against Atlético because he didn't feel like it. We're not putting pressure on him. We're still working with him to develop the boot to make sure it's going to be ready in 2027.
That's the patience that I'm talking about. That's the trust that I'm talking about, and that togetherness that I'm talking about. He's going to bring his experience to make sure that the boots are going to be fully ready in 2027. If he feels like he wants to wear it, he will wear it before 2027.
So when you think about the football boot of the future, what's the first thing that you would like to rethink?
Well, the future of the game is the players. Being able to be in the brain of the player. Not always the technician that builds the boots, but in the brain of the player. Can you tell us what you want? That's, for me, the future of the game, because ultimately, those guys are playing. They know fully what's needed and how they want it. [The athletes] having a voice, to a point, is very important.
People always ask me, "What's the best dream you've ever had?" I say, "The one that I didn't think of yet." You know what I mean? Where I'm coming from with that one? So yeah, that's exactly where I am with it.
You've experienced football as a player, coach, and now director. What still excites you most about the game?
The game itself right now is limitless. The game always changes. You always think that you saw everything about the game. Then VAR appeared, then at the World Cup you had cooling breaks, and then I don't know what's going to come soon that we didn't think about.
I never thought in my time that VAR was going to be there. I never thought that we were going to have cooling breaks. I never thought that you could do boots in three minutes. What do I know? That's what I'm saying to you. It's limitless, and we're part of the process. I think that's one of the most important things.
So I'll be sitting here trying to make me tell you, "What do I think?" I actually don't know. That's the beauty of it. It is limitless. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, what's going to happen in a year or two years. But as long as you're in it, in the race, and running, that's good.
What's something about modern football that you think could use a rethink?
Well, everything, I don't know. If you think about it, when you watch the game, at times the game is a bit too scripted. You know, there used to be a guy that used to do something out of the box. It's a bit weird because coaches are there to coach. It seems like sometimes when you watch a game, it's scripted.
You don't have a guy that, from thirty yards out, tries to chip the goalkeeper out of nowhere just because, or to flick something. You have some guys like that who are coming back. But I think at one point, you know, it is really scripted.
But that's just me going into details because you're asking me the question, but I still enjoy the game. I still enjoy watching a lot of teams, but I'm saying sometimes you kind of see the same type of game, a team that's trying to build, another team that's slow, that plays counter, you know?
You kind of touched on this earlier, but is there something from your era of playing that you think football could use more of today?
My era of playing? I'm going to be cryptic here. Leather. I grew up with leather. Mhm. Like a good, nice leather jacket.
