Workers are being paid a basic wage of less than £1 an hour to make official football shirts for some of the world's biggest clubs, a BBC Sport investigation has revealed.

The investigation traced authentic replica shirts to two factories in Cambodia — Bowker Garment Factory and Trax Apparel — where conditions were described as "grim". The supply chain behind official shirts was followed after fans told the BBC they were frustrated by rising prices, with many turning to cheaper counterfeits instead.

Images obtained from inside the two factories show kits being made for clubs including Arsenal, Celtic, Liverpool and Real Madrid. Employees said they struggled to make ends meet while working on up to 700 items a day as part of a production line.

In rare interviews, supported by documentary evidence and published anonymously, workers also described factory temperatures above 35C, verbal abuse when targets were missed and safety concerns about electrical equipment.

The Clean Clothes Campaign, a global workers' rights network, said the findings painted a "very grim picture". "These are issues that many garment workers around the world face every day," said spokesperson Emma Vogt.

Similar issues, such as low pay and high temperatures, have been reported across Cambodia's garment industry. A 2024 International Labour Organization report found 69% of factories had issues with heat and 84% with worker protection.

Life on the production line

Shirt production begins months before designs are revealed to fans. Six thousand miles from the club shops where the shirts will be sold, a photograph taken inside Bowker Garment Factory shows mannequins displaying Benfica, Aston Villa and Celtic kits beneath an Adidas logo on the wall.

About 3,400 people — most of them women — work at Bowker on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, in Kandal Province, a major hub for clothes manufacturing. Another 3,200 work 10 miles east at Trax Apparel, where more than 80% of the workforce are women. Fabric is imported from Thailand and Vietnam before a specialist tailor makes a sample for other employees to follow, with much of the shirt-making process — including sewing, ironing and packaging — then taking place at the factories.

Staff typically work six eight-hour shifts a week and, according to five payslips seen by the BBC, receive basic monthly salaries of $210-$220 (£158-£166). Those salaries comply with local minimum-wage laws, and three of the payslips indicate total monthly earnings of about $300 (£226) once overtime and allowances are included — albeit with significant extra hours worked.

"It's hard to live with this amount," said a Bowker worker, who explained she had little left after rent, food and utilities.

"I want international customers to hear that one shirt they buy costs more than two weeks' salary for a worker," said another worker at Trax. "Every one of these shirts contains the sweat of Cambodian workers."

Trax told the BBC its average monthly employee earnings range from $305-$342 (£230-£258) this year. Adidas said average net wages across a sample of its Cambodian suppliers were 34% above the Anker Research Institute's living-wage benchmark, adding that staff were "usually paid considerably higher than the local minimum wage". Bowker did not respond to a request for comment.

Heat, quotas and electric shocks

Workers at both factories described pressure to meet group production targets of between 300 and 700 items a day. "Just think about that," they said. "If one shirt sells for $120 (£90) in the store, how much are they pulling in from 600 of them? They make a ton of money but give almost nothing to the workers."

In another photograph taken inside Bowker, a thermometer shows 35.2C and humidity of 57.6%. "The heat stress is really taking a toll on our health," said an employee on the ironing line.

Others described verbal abuse when targets were missed. "When we can't complete the quota they scold and yell at us and tell us to resign," said a third worker at Bowker.

The same employee said they received two electric shocks from an exposed wire. "I tried to report it multiple times, but they only took action after the second time I got shocked," they said.

Adidas told the BBC that both factories had "heat-management measures", that its standards "do not permit any form of harassment", and that "no electrical-related accidents" had been found in Bowker's records. Trax acknowledged "periods of elevated temperature" but said cooling systems were in place and insisted its approach "is not based on enforcing output targets".

From Cambodia to the club shop

It was August Bank Holiday in England and two of the Premier League's top sides — Aston Villa and Arsenal — were about to meet at Villa Park, with tens of thousands of supporters there, many wearing shirts made in Cambodia. Arsenal's latest home design was released in May, but photographs sent to the BBC showed it inside Trax months earlier.

Fans of both clubs said official shirts have become overpriced. One Villa supporter had just paid £95 for his, complete with a Champions League badge. "You buy your season ticket. Three shirts, that's around £300 on top. It's ridiculous," he said.

An Arsenal fan said he was struggling with the outlay for his whole family. "I've got young kids now and I've started getting them kits, so it's started getting expensive," he said. "They're not cheap if you get the official ones."

Arsenal shirts like those on display at Villa Park retail for £85, rising to £120 for the same specification worn by players. Various studies estimate the global market for official football teamwear is worth several billion pounds.

"The mark-up on football jerseys... it's hard to imagine a more lucrative brand market," said Dave Welsh from The Solidarity Center, a US-based workers' rights organisation.

But former Puma and Umbro kit designer Rob Warner told BBC Sport last year that the economics behind shirt prices are more complex. "A lot of the profit margin is made by the retailer because they're so dependent on the success of the team... it's a risk," he said. "Then you factor in the cost of the kit deals going up, and the brands having to try to recover some of the money they're paying to the elite clubs."

Where the money from an £85 shirt goes

Research published last year suggested that, of a typical £85 shirt, £8.50 covers fabric, sewing and shipping, £37.45 goes to the retailer, £16.25 to the manufacturer, £9.50 on marketing and £13.60 in VAT.

Shirt prices have increased significantly over the past decade, though industry experts argue advances in technology and expensive kit deals with elite clubs have contributed to the rise.

What the brands say

Adidas does not own either factory, but both are primary suppliers subject to its workplace standards. The sportswear giant supplies eight of the 20 Premier League teams, plus the national sides of Northern Ireland and Scotland.

"We have taken a variety of measures to ensure fair and safe working conditions for workers across our supply chain for more than 25 years," Adidas said. "Through around 1,200 factory audits per year, we review and evaluate supplier conduct, work with suppliers to address issues and make improvements where necessary."

Fellow sportswear giant Nike supplies three Premier League clubs, as well as England. Its football shirts have been produced in Thailand and Vietnam, and more recently Georgia. Nike does not publish salary data by country, but said 71% of its key suppliers pay at or above living-wage benchmarks relevant to their location. Hummel, which supplies kits to three Premier League clubs, also features among the suppliers examined in the report.