While four teams duke it out in Brazil to become the 2014 World Cup champions, a little known war has been going down in the south American country, this one potentially over hundreds of millions of dollars, market supremacy, and bragging rights.
Here are the players. Of the four teams that made it into the semi-finals, two of them, Argentina and Germany, wear Adidas apparel, while the other two, Brazil and the Netherlands rock Nike outfits.
Here are the stakes. With Germany matching up against Brazil and Argentina up against the Netherlands, there could be an all-Adidas or all-Nike final on July 13, an incredible advertising platform for whichever brand gets to be showcased.
These two global brands will do battle over the soul of the soccer industry and a bigger share of the market.
According to NPR.org, Nike and Adidas already control about 70% of the market, whoever emerges the victor of the 2014 campaign will go the spoils.
Nike reportedly produces about $25 billion a year in sales. Adidas does about $19 billion. But as big as Nike has been globally, soccer is Adidas territory. And if Nike wants to conquer the market it will have to tackle Adidas. Hard.
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Bloomberg calls Adidas, “The incumbent in the apparel war, the company that pioneered athletic sponsorships as we know them and an official FIFA
sponsor since 1970.” Bloomberg says Nike is the upstart, buying top teams and players instead of the World Cup itself, “Adidas backs athletes, Nike backs athletic celebrities.”According to Forbes, Adidas has “manufactured every soccer ball used in the World Cup since 1970 and recently extended its partnership with FIFA to last through 2030 at at a reported $70 million for every four years to maintain the relationship.” Forbes also says the company behind “brazuca,†Adidas made the official match ball of the 2014 World Cup, which was tested for two-and-a-half years by more than 600 of the world’s top players before being introduced to the public in December 2013.
Brazil’s best player, Neymar has been draped in Nike apparel, but after an injury forced him out of the World Cup, the host nation’s chances of claiming the title and a win for Nike are looking very slim. Nike has a $7 million annual investment in the 22-year-old star, but now that he’s been sidelined for the rest of the games Nike will have to rely on another player with less charisma as its standard bearer.
According to one brand consultant, “Nike has been eating Adidas’s lunch all over the world for a long time now. It certainly appears Nike is going to overtake Adidas as a football (soccer) brand before too long. It is a question of when, not if.”
One the one hand, Adidas has spent millions of dollars showcasing its brand in the biggest sports tournament in the world. The market share is Adidas to lose. On the other hand, Nike is late to the party, but is catching up fast.
Whoever wins the battle for the hearts, minds, and wallets of fans across the world could depend on the nation that hoists the cup come Friday and the players on all four teams.