UEFA EURO 2004™ Sponsorship: The Most Successful for adidas
Lissabon/Herzogenaurach, June 30th, 2004 - "The UEFA EURO 2004™ in Portugal has been our most successful European Championship both in terms of sales and image," said Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas-Salomon AG on the day of the first semi final. "We have reached or even exceeded all our goals associated with our involvement in this great tournament."
With these words, Herbert Hainer summed up adidas' role as a National Supporter and Official Licensee of UEFA EURO 2004™ and Official Supplier of the match ball in Lisbon today. According to Herbert Hainer, adidas has succeeded in strengthening its position as the world's leading football brand.
"For 2004, we anticipate that we will once again achieve new record sales in football," Herbert Hainer added. "We have great momentum and this momentum will continue well into 2006 and beyond."
For adidas the UEFA EURO 2004™ has proven to be a commercial success. More than 1.3 million replica jerseys, over 1.2 million UEFA EURO 2004™ licensed products and more than 250,000 pieces of our newly introduced women's football range have been sold.
In addition, adidas expects to sell about 1 million pairs of the adidas PredatorPulse™ football boot, worn by players such as Zinédine Zidane, David Beckham and Michael Ballack. The Official Match Ball, the Roteiro™, will sell more than 6 million times, making it the best selling football ever.
Herbert Hainer: "We are the brand that understands football best. We lead the football market in products, sports marketing and communication. So to me there is not the slightest doubt that adidas will continue to be the Number 1 global football brand - especially with the FIFA World Cup 2006™ in our home market Germany just around the corner."
adidas has partnerships with national football federations all over the globe, including Argentina, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Nigeria, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Moreover adidas is the Official Supplier of the UEFA Champions League™ and Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ and the partner of choice of many of the world's best football clubs and players.