By David Owen
June 27 – Adidas teams enjoyed a storming final round of group-stage matches at the World Cup in Brazil, as those supplied by rival Puma wilted. With 75% of Brazil 2014 games now completed (even if the most important are still to come), the company, which expects to sell more than 8 million World Cup team replica shirts and 14 million ‘Brazuca’ footballs, has taken a grip on the World Cup Battle of the Brands.
With all group matches played, the nine Brazil 2014 teams supplied by Adidas have amassed 55.6% of points theoretically available to them. This compares with 44.4% for Nike and 40.3% for Puma, five of whose eight World Cup teams lost their final group matches.
The five Brazil 2014 teams supplied by smaller brands secured a creditable 46.7% of the points available to them, with Lotto’s Costa Rica proving the surprise package of the tournament so far.
The 10 Nike teams have so far outscored Adidas by 49 goals to 41, with Puma sides scoring 33 times and those supplied by other brands 13.
The focus will now switch to whose teams can stay in Brazil the longest, with the knockout phase poised to begin on Saturday.
The balance between the brands remains remarkable even. Nike supply five of the squads who have fought through to the last 16 (Brazil, France, Greece, Holland and the USA); Adidas also have five (Argentina, Colombia, Germany, Mexico and Nigeria); Puma supply four survivors (Algeria, Chile, Switzerland and Uruguay); and Lotto and Burrda Sport one each (Costa Rica and Belgium).
Adidas said its replica German shirt has attained record sales of 2 million units, while Argentina, Mexico and Colombia had run up sales of more than 1 million units each.
Teams Wins Pts % Goals Last 16 qualifiers
Adidas 9 13 55.6 41 Five
Nike 10 11 44.4 49 Five
Puma 8 9 40.3 33 Four
Others* 5 6 46.7 13 Two
(* Burrda Sport, Joma, Lotto, Marathon and Uhlsport have each supplied one team at the competition)