Berlin, July 5: Although the World Cup final is still days away and the outcome anything but certain, leading makers of sportswear and equipment such as Nike, Adidas and Puma were already claiming today to be the winners in the
month-long mega-tournament.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that Adidas is the winner of the 2006 World Cup," the German group's chairman, Herbert Hainer, said.
Last week, only half-way through the championships, the group trumpeted that it had exceeded all of the targets it had set itself for the World Cup in terms of sales and still saw room on the upside.
Arch-rival, us giant Nike, claimed to be "well on the way to becoming number one" in football, said the group's European spokesman Charlie Brooks.
The brand had also beaten expectations "both commercially and in terms of communication with the consumers", even if Brazil, Nike's flagship team and perennial favourite, were beaten by France.
"What happens in the last week doesn't affect communication with the consumers" or have much influence on the brand's image, Brooks said.
Nike has sold 2.4 million replica shirts of its eight teams, with Brazil accounting for more than half.
Similar comments were heard from Puma, where only one of the 12 teams under contract, Italy, got as far as the last eight.
"The one (the sporting performance) has nothing to do with the other (the sales performance)," said Puma spokesman, Ulf Santjer. The brand had similarly beaten its targets, he said.
In the end, however, "there will only be one left. That's the way it is," Santjer added.
The rival groups each had their own spin on how they have fared during the tournament.
Puma claimed to be "the most visible brand", by being present in "more than half" of all matches.
For Nike's part, "38 percent of goals were scored with Nike boots, that's more than any other brand," said Brooks.
As for Adidas, the adulation of German supporters for their home team has turned into a veritable gold mine, with more than 1.5 million replica shirts of the German National team being sold, three times more than expected. And 450,000
replica of French team shirts have also been sold.
In all, Adidas said that football-related sales amounted to 1.2 billion euros (USD 1.5 billion) this year.
Adidas is an official sponsor, supplier and licensee of the World Cup and is sponsoring six national teams in the tournament, including host country Germany.
It has also sold more than 15 million of its "Teamgeist" World Cup match balls, compared with 6.0 million of the replica ball for the 2002 tournament.
Rival German supplier Puma -- both Adidas and Puma originally came from the same company -- sponsored the teams of five African countries, namely Angola, the Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Ghana and Togo.
Ghana, which was the only African team to get further than the first round, "won fans' hearts," said Puma spokesman, Santjer.
Indeed, Puma was the preferred brand of Africans and that could stand it in good stead for the next world cup in South Africa in 2010, he said.
Bureau Report
