Adidas edging Nike in World Cup sales boost, data show

NEW YORK, June 24 : As the World Cup brand battle heats up, sportswear giant Adidas appears to be getting a bigger boost than rival Nike, early data show.

Both companies are investing heavily in the tournament, but Nike is relying on it for sales and visibility as it tries to right its ship amid years of steadily leaking market share. Investors will be looking for signs of progress next week when Nike reports fourth-quarter earnings.

Adidas, an official World Cup sponsor ​and a brand long associated with soccer, is sponsoring 14 teams and supplying the coveted match ball.

Nike is outfitting 12 national teams, partnering with local ​street-wear designers, and refreshing soccer merchandise at more than 5,000 Nike and wholesale stores globally.

But while both brands are poised to get a World Cup boost to their apparel businesses, Adidas is benefiting "to a greater degree thus far," said Drake MacFarlane, a research analyst at M Science.

Spending on Adidas apparel surged 70 per cent in May from the previous year and stayed strong into June, according to M Science data. MacFarlane attributed the trend to "substantial growth" in jersey sales ahead of the World Cup.

Nike's apparel business is growing as well, he added, but that growth is being outpaced by Adidas, which has "the right set of product for the consumer."

Foot traffic data tell a similar story.

Visits to Adidas' U.S. stores surged 47 per cent during the first week of the World Cup compared to 2026 averages, versus an 11 per cent jump at Nike's U.S. factory stores, according to data from Placer.ai, shared with Reuters.

For Adidas, those visits represented a 16 per cent jump versus the same week last year - but for Nike, they represented a drop, Placer.ai found.

While the Nike