Adidas says its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup has been its most successful ever after chalking up record football sales on the back of its association with the tournament.
The long-time FIFA partner says football sales of EUR1.2bn this year is up 30 percent on 2005, with a record 3m replica shirts sold – half of which were for the German national team.
In comparison, FIFA sold 1.5m national strips during the 2002 World Cup – and just 250,000 German tops.
Meanwhile, adidas has confirmed it will continue its long-term partnership both with Germany and UEFA’s European Championships.
It has been granted global sponsorship rights to Euro 2008 and become official ball supplier for the UEFA Champions League until 2009.
Adidas will also have the rights to design and market exclusive UEFA Champions League branded sportswear, will continue to supply well over 1,000 volunteers with sportswear for the final and will support the UEFA Young Champions grassroots event.
Adidas AG CEO and chairman Herbert Hainer said: “We exceeded all of our soccer and business goals for the World Cup.
“One trend confirmed at this year's World Cup is that the fans are going to the games in the jersey of their team. Our products are scoring with consumers, and this success is translating into market share gains.”
According to figures quoted by adidas, from 'independent market research', in the first quarter of 2006, adidas led the US market with a 46 percent share, the European market with a share of 37 percent and the German market with 51 percent.