Let's start immediately with two surprises. Although the official FIFA sponsor since 1930 (and which has put its signature on the balls of the world tournament continuously since 1970) is Adidas, it is Nike that takes over the technical equipment of the largest number of national teams involved in Brazil: 10 out of 32, against 8 for Adidas and Puma and 6 for others. Overall, the challenge between the two giants that share 70% of the world market would instead see Adidas excel (36% to 34%), with a turnover that justifies the Mundial primacy of the comma brand: 20 billion euros against 15 .
The second surprise is that the most "valuable" shirt is neither that of the hosts of Brazil, to which Nike paid 30 million euros for the rights, nor even that of the reigning champions of all (albeit prematurely eliminated) of the Spain, for which Adidas stopped at 24 million, valuing it less than that of the very successful Germany and even of the outsider Colombia, even though it was orphaned by the star Radamel Falcao (26 million for both). England is also better than the Roja (30 million with Nike), but the surprise throne goes to France, which Nike stole from its rivals after 42 years for the beauty of 42,6 million euros: about a million for each year of waiting! Who knows if they would have done it knowing the absence of the star Frank Ribéry…
E Italy? It's a step below the best, but with 20 million euros, she is the first national player in the Puma lotto, which has also signed with Chile, Uruguay and with four of the five Africans in contention (Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, while Nigeria is Adidas). Croatia and Switzerland are also with Puma, while there is even room for minor brands such as the Italian Legea, which paid just 1 million to the freshman Bosnia, the Swiss Burrda (Belgium), the German Uhlsport (Iran), the Ecuadorian Marathon for Ecuador, the Italian Lotto for Costa Rica and the Spanish Joma for Honduras.
The World Cup of stars, on the other hand, is always won by the two big names, with the Argentine Lionel Messi as an Adidas man and on the other hand the Brazilian Neymar and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo: the first two immediately great protagonists, the third disappointing and at risk of elimination . What will be the return for Nike and Adidas? According to the experts, the best (and actually possible) final would be Brazil-Argentina: for the two sportswear giants it would constitute a bonus estimated at 2,2 billion euros in total.
