German equipment and sportswear group Adidas stated on Monday that it expects to soon reach record sales in football gear thanks to the South African World Cup.
The company believes it will reach sales of almost two billion from jerseys, balls, boots, and other similar items which is an increase from previous predictions of 1.3b. Adidas sponsors 12 out of the 32 World Cup teams, which include France, Spain, Argentina, and Germany, as well as the hosts of this year’s World Cup, South Africa.
Boss of Adidas, Herbert Hainer, stated that the jerseys are selling much better than expected with a million jerseys from German, Argentina, South Africa, and Mexico sold.
By the end of the 2006 World Cup Adidas was able to sell three million jerseys and given the fact that Adidas are expecting to see six of its sponsored teams make it past the competition’s first round, sales should continue to rise.
The group is also behind the controversial Jabulani football team which is being used as the official ball of the competition which it predicts will reach sales of 13m.
Markus Baumann, the overseer of Adidas football activites, stated that the ball is top selling item at the moment.
Outside of the jersey and ball sales, Adidas also has seen a large increase in the sales of boots with contracts with Lionel Messi the Argentinean superstar although Nike has both Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Teams only need to wear the official uniform of their sponsor while each player can choose what type of boots to wear.