New record sales in football / number of jerseys sold has more than doubled

Herzogenaurach, June 21st, 2010 – “After the first ten days it is already clear that this World Cup will be a great success for adidas. We will not only achieve our ambitious goals in football, we will over-achieve them. Our football business is growing worldwide. This underlines the global power this tournament has,” comments Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas AG at the adidas FIFA World CupTM Media Day in Herzogenaurach.

For adidas, the 2010 FIFA World CupTM is already a success in terms of sales. adidas is now expecting record sales of at least 1.5 billion Euro in the football category. This represents an increase of more than 15% compared to 2008, the last year of record adidas sales in football (1.3 billion Euro) and an increase of 25% compared to the year of the last FIFA World CupTM in 2006 (1.2 billion Euro). In the first quarter of 2010, sales of football products were already up 26%. With more than 6.5 million replica jerseys sold, the number of jerseys has more than doubled compared to 2006 (3 million). This includes bestsellers such as Germany, Mexico, South Africa and Argentina with sales of around 1 million units or more each.

“No matter how you look at it: In terms of sales, market share and visibility – adidas is and will remain the leading football brand. It has become something of a tradition that we further strengthen our market leadership with every tournament. Following the German team’s excellent performance in the first game, the sales figures for our football products even match those of Germany’s summer fairytale in 2006,” Herbert Hainer adds.

According to independent market research, adidas holds a market share of 34% and is thus the world’s leading football brand. In Europe, adidas holds a market share in football of over 38%, in some core markets such as Germany and the USA the figure is over 50% (sources: NPD Sports Tracking Europe and SportScan).

In 2010, adidas will also sell more footballs than ever before as adidas provides the match balls for all important tournaments and leagues worldwide, including the Official Match Ball for all UEFA competitions, the Africa Cup of Nations and the Official Match Ball for the German Bundesliga, the “Torfabrik”, which was presented last week. More than 13 million of the 20 million footballs sold feature the design of the JABULANI, the Official Match Ball of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM.

“Football has become ever faster and more dynamic in recent years. World-class players like Lionel Messi therefore appreciate that we offer them products such as the ultra-light F50 adiZero that help them to enhance their performance. The World Cup is the ideal stage to present such innovations and our brand to a broad audience,” explains Markus Baumann, Vice President adidas Global Football.

adidas is Official Sponsor, Supplier and Licensee of the FIFA World CupTM. adidas thus provides the Official Match Ball and supplies the equipment for all officials, referees, volunteers and ball kids. In the current World Cup, adidas equips more than 200 players as well as 12 teams: host nation South Africa, European Champions Spain, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, France, Japan, Nigeria, Slovakia, Denmark and Greece. In addition, adidas is Official Partner of the European Football Union UEFA and the Confederation of African Football CAF. adidas is also Official Supplier to Major League Soccer (USA) and the UEFA Champions League. Moreover, adidas is Official Supplier to prominent football clubs including AC Milan, Chelsea FC, FC Bayern München, Liverpool FC and Real Madrid. Additionally, stars such as Lionel Messi, Kaká, David Beckham, Michael Ballack, Lukas Podolski, Arjen Robben and David Villa represent their respective clubs wearing state-of-the-art adidas football equipment.

For more information contact: +49 (0) 9132 84-3830

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.

Your complete source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only