FIFA World Cup, a success for adidas

Adidas reports successful results so far after the first twelve days of the 2014 FIFA World Cup(TM). At a football media event in Herzogenaurach today, Herbert Hainer, adidas Group CEO, commented: «We will definitely achieve our goal of € 2 billion in sales in the football category in 2014, once again underlining our outstanding position as the clear number one in football globally. The brand’s presence on the field of play and all around the tournament in Brazil as well as the success of our marketing campaign in social media worldwide is clear proof that adidas is and will remain the leading football brand».

As Official Sponsor, Supplier and Licensee of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, adidas is again supplying the Official Match Ball of the tournament and equipping officials, referees, volunteers and ball kids. In addition, nine teams and around 300 players are competing for the World Cup title in Brazil in adidas products.

«Since November 2013, we have brought to market a constant stream of new, creative football products and concepts for the World Cup», explained Markus Baumann, Senior Vice President adidas Football. «Our products have seen a tremendous response, not only amongst our world-class players but also with football fans around the globe. This year, we will sell more World Cup jerseys than ever before. The Official Match Ball brazuca, the most tested adidas ball of all time, is a total success in every respect: in terms of visibility, sales, on Twitter and also according to many players who say that brazuca is one of the best balls they have ever played».

Adidas will sell more than 8 million jerseys altogether, significantly more than in the year of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (6.5 million). The Germany jersey is leading the way, with record sales of more than 2 million units, over 30% more than in the previous record year 2006 (1.5 million DFB jerseys). The German national team is also becoming increasingly popular internationally. More than half a million jerseys will be sold outside Europe – compared to around 300,000 in 2010.

Further bestsellers are the Argentina, Mexico and Colombia jerseys, with sales of more than one million units each. In addition, adidas will sell more than 14 million footballs in the design of the brazuca, the Official Match Ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup – one million more balls than in the year of the 2010 World Cup (with 13 million balls sold featuring the Jabulani design).

The 2014 FIFA World Cup also has a sustainable positive effect on sales in Latin America. In the last ten years, the adidas Group has been able to increase sales in the region significantly, from € 179 million to € 1.575 billion. The adidas brand in particular, supported by the additional momentum from the 2014 FIFA World Cup, will continue to grow at strong rates in Latin America in the years to come.

For the duration of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, adidas has set up a newsroom in Rio de Janeiro called ‘Posto adidas’. Throughout the tournament, adidas will create and share content via its social media channels in real-time. adidas’ goal is to be the most talked-about brand in social media during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. During the first twelve days of the event, the brand made significant steps towards achieving this goal, be it by growing the @brazuca twitter handle to more than 2 million followers. adidas is the global leader in football. It is the official sponsor of the most important football tournaments in the world, such as the FIFA World Cup(TM), the FIFA Confederations Cup, the UEFA Champions League(TM), the UEFA Europa League(TM) and the UEFA EURO(TM).

Adidas also sponsors some of the world’s top clubs, including Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Flamengo and Chelsea. Some of the world’s best players also on the adidas roster are Leo Messi, Gareth Bale, Arjen Robben, Dani Alves, Oscar, Xavi, Karim Benzema and Thomas Müller.

The adidas Group is one of the global leaders within the sporting goods industry, offering a broad range of products around the core brands: adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany, the Group employs more than 50,000 people across the globe and generated sales of € 14.5 billion in 2013.