Nike against Adidas, the other final of this 2022 football world cup
The French football team and its mega-contract worth more than 50 million euros per year have become the jewel of the American equipment manufacturer Nike in international football. A distant rivalry with its rival Adidas, which supplies Argentina’s jerseys.
With a world title won in 2018 and perhaps a second in a row this Sunday, the French football team and its mega-contract of more than 50 million euros per year have become the jewel of the American equipment supplier. Nike in international football.
Adidas against Nike, another World Cup final
Announced in 2016, covering the period 2018-2026, this partnership is the highest in the world for a national team, more or less on a par linking – but with less success – Adidas in Germany at the same time. .
Loyal to the three-striped brand for 60 years, Germany were knocked out in the first round four years ago in Russia and they suffered the same misfortune this year in Qatar, finishing third in their group behind Japan and Spain .
Adidas will however be represented in the final, but by Argentina and Lionel Messi (under a personal contract with the three-striped brand), and the sporting rivalry will be combined with a financial rivalry between the two giants: an estimated 30% increase in sales of football shirts in a World Cup year, but the world title will still boost this figure.
A record contract
The stakes are high for Nike, which only entered the circle of World Cup equipment suppliers in 1998 and is looking to add a third world trophy to its list after Brazil in 2002 and France earlier. four years, while Adidas is six.
Nike also put together the package to become the Habs’ official supplier. The contract signed in 2008 and entered into force in 2011 amounted to 42.6 million euros per year, a record amount and more than four times higher than what the FFF had received until then. Adidas.
It was renegotiated by President Noël Le Graët to bring it to more than 50 million euros per year. It is not the financial part that has increased, but the allocation of equipment (approximately 12 million euros per season) for the French men’s team and the 17 other national selections (women, U23, Espoirs, etc. ) but also amateur clubs for the Coupe de France, which now benefit from preferential rates to equip themselves with the American brand.
Since this first “big hit”, Nike has gained a large share as it is the best brand representative at the start of the World Cup in Qatar, with 13 countries out of 32 under contract. As many as Adidas (seven) and Puma (six) combined.
“Iconic partnership”
“We have proudly sponsored the FFF since 2011 and it remains one of our most iconic partnerships,” Nike said in a statement sent to AFP.
“We wish them good luck for the final this weekend”, added the company, which however did not speak much on the sales figures of the jerseys achieved or expected, or on the possible prospect of making a three- star jersey, in the event of victory.
On Adidas’ side, it was determined that Argentina’s jerseys were “almost sold out” in some markets even before Sunday’s final, according to a spokesman interviewed by AFP. And, unsurprisingly, the influx of the number 10 jersey, of Lionel Messi, is “particularly popular”, he added, noting that its influx at the German logistics center in Rieste, in Lower Saxony, is running at full capacity. speed .
How long is a three star jersey?
But with two or three stars? At this point, in 2018, the coronation of the Blues resulted in Nike delaying the ignition by providing a version with a second star.
Several tens of thousands of jerseys were sold in the first weeks after the victory in the final against Croatia. But, then, the “replica” versions, cheaper (80 euros) than the “matching” version (130 euros), came in dribs and drabs, and only from the fall, due to manufacturing and delivery from Thailand.
Again, Nike is unlikely to produce a mass of items it can’t sell should the Blues lose and, initially at least, any three-star shirts are likely to be reserved for the “happy few”.
Feverish sign before 2018’s precedent? The comma brand in any case placed an announcement online on Friday selling a “three-star” jersey from the Blues, before withdrawing it immediately, according to some media.
