Adidas, sponsor of defending champion Argentina, is not the clear favourite at this football World Cup. As usual, the German sportswear giant is up against old rival Nike. But the financial face-off is closer than it has been in a long time.
Just look at the number of teams sporting Adidas’s three-stripe logo on their sleeves. The company’s total of 14 out of 48 compares with 12 for Nike — which includes likely winner France — and 11 for third-placed Puma. In 2022’s World Cup, Adidas notched up seven teams and Nike 13.
Whoever hoists the trophy, the tournament looks like proof of Adidas’s resurgence. Last year, the gap between Adidas’s operating profit and Nike’s shrunk to its smallest in 25 years. While Nike’s revenue is still about a third bigger than that of Adidas, the match momentum is finally with the German side under the leadership of Bjørn Gulden, formerly of Puma.