Sportwear makers claim victory in World Cup

“There is no doubt whatsoever that Adidas is the winner of the 2006 World Cup,” the German group’s chairman, Herbert Hainer, said. Last week, only half-way through the championships, the group trumpeted that it had exceeded all of the targets it had set itself for the World Cup in terms of sales and still saw room on the upside. Arch-rival, US giant Nike, claimed to be “well on the way to becoming number one” in football, said the group’s European spokesman Charlie Brooks.

The brand had also beaten expectations “both commercially and in terms of communication with the consumers”, even if Brazil, Nike’s flagship team and perennial favourite, were beaten by France on Saturday.

“What happens in the last week doesn’t affect communication with the consumers” or have much influence on the brand’s image, Brooks said. Nike has sold 2.4 million replica shirts of its eight teams, with Brazil accounting for more than half. Similar comments were heard from Puma, where only one of the 12 teams under contract, Italy, got as far as the last eight. “The one (the sporting performance) has nothing to do with the other (the sales performance),” said Puma spokesman, Ulf Santjer.

The rival groups each had their own spin on how they have fared during the tournament. Puma claimed to be “the most visible brand”, by being present in “more than half” of all matches. For Nike’s part, “38 percent of goals were scored with Nike boots, that’s more than any other brand,” said Brooks.

As for Adidas, the adulation of German supporters for their home team has turned into a veritable gold mine, with more than 1.5 million replica shirts of the German national team being sold, three times more than expected. And 450,000 replica French team shirts have also been sold. In all, Adidas said that football-related sales amounted to 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) this year.

Adidas is an official sponsor, supplier and licensee of the World Cup and is sponsoring six national teams in the tournament, including host country Germany. US giant Nike has only been in football since 1994 and wants to beat arch-rival Adidas in the sport But while Nike saw the 2006 World Cup as a great commercial opportunity, “football isn’t only the World Cup,” Brooks said.