Adidas gives Nike a 2-0 thumping in World Cup final

With Adidas sponsoring both teams in Sunday's World Cup final, the German sportswear giant has declared victory over US rival Nike in the latest round of its battle to remain the biggest global soccer brand.

The two companies dominate a soccer kit industry worth more than $5-billion (R53-billion) a year, sharing more than 80% of the market for many products, but Nike has been threatening Adidas's leadership, including in its home territory, the EU.

While Adidas has supplied the match ball for the World Cup since 1970, Nike kitted out more teams at the competition in Brazil for the first time - 10 out of the 32 teams including the hosts, compared with nine for Adidas.

Nevertheless, the three stripes of Adidas will dominate the pitch on Sunday, on both teams' jerseys for the first time since 1990 and on their star players' boots, the match officials' clothing - and the ball.

"Adidas will be the most visible brand by far in the World Cup final," said CEO Herbert Hainer.

Hainer had predicted a Germany-Argentina final well before the two teams beat Nike-backed Brazil and the Netherlands in the semis.

"We are once again underlining our position as the world's leading football brand. Adidas is the clear No1 in football globally."

But it is not clear how long that will last. Adidas expects record soccer sales of $2.7-billion this year, topping the $2.3-billion Nike reported for its financial year to end May.

While the periods are not directly comparable, Nike has said it could exceed the Adidas figure for this year in its fiscal 2014-15.

Despite the fact Nike teams did not make the final, the Portland-based firm, which has only been a serious player in soccer since the World Cup was held in the US in 1994, sees no sign of growth in soccer slowing down.

CEO Mark Parker said Nike has already overtaken Adidas in boot sales in most countries, and predicts a repeat in the current fiscal year of the 21% rise in soccer sales the company reported last year.

"The US offers huge potential in particular. Enthusiasm for football is there in any case. And in China there are tremendous growth opportunities," Parker told Germany's Handelsblatt daily.