And the winner is: Puma - with 11 World Cup teams
monstersandcritics.com
nice article so how much $$ is T&T getting from adidas ?
Herzogenaurach, Germany - With the full World Cup field now deterimined one winner can already be declared - Puma, which equip 11 of the 32 teams to play at the finals in Germany next year.
Puma have a surprisingly big advantage over main rivals Nike and Adidas, who will have eight and six teams present.
However, Adidas at least were quite unlucky.
\'Unfortunately some didn\'t qualify,\' said spokeswoman Anne Putz in reference to the misses of Euro 2004 champions Greece, Nigeria, 2010 hosts South Africa and China against the odds.
But Adidas boast hosts Germany, title contenders Argentina, France, Spain, Japan and newcomers Trinidad and Tobago.
Even more important, Adidas are an official World Cup sponsor and the only one of the big three companies to be present at all matches. Adidas also provide the World Cup ball.
\'The World Cup will be a huge event for us, regardless of the number of teams we equip,\' said Putz.
Putz said her company was represented well in major markets sich as Germany, France and Spain. Adidas hopes to sell 500,000 Germany jerseys alone - more than double the amount from the 2002 edition.
Local rivals Puma are delighted as well after the Czech Republic and Switzerland brought them to double digits as far as teams are concerned.
Puma have a traditionally strong base in Africa, equipping four of the five teams from the continent: Tunisia, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo.
Three-time World Cup winners are the Puma top team, with Poland, Paraguay, Iran and Saudi Arabia comleting the 11.
\'African football stands for creativity and is an important part of our campaign,\' said spokesman Ulf Santjer, adding that Puma plan the \'biggest marketing campaign in company history\' around the World Cup.
The U.S. giants Nike, for their part, co-operate with the strong Dutch, Portugal, Croatia, the U.S., Mexico, South Korea and Australia, but nothing rivals their deal with record champions and holders Brazil.
\'Brazil stand for the dream of brilliant football and are the only team with huge potential outside the country,\' said spokesman Olaf Markhoff from Nike Germany.
Markhoff said his outfit is very pleased with the number of teams and is already observing a rise in football goods sales.
England and Sweden, meanwhile, play with Umbro equipment while the other five teams are yet to finalise deals.
In addition to teams, Adidas can boast that England captain David Beckham, team-mate Frank Lampard, Dutchman Arjen Robben, Brazil\'s Caca and Italian veteran Alessandro del Piero will be wearing their boots even though they wear clothes from other outfits.
Nike plan a big campaign with their major individual signings Ronaldinho (Brazil), Thierry Henry (France) and Wayne Rooney (England).
The World Cup sees free choice of boots for all players, although there is one exception - hosts Germany being all-Adidas from head to toe.
© dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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