The Battle of The Soccer Brands.

For manufacturer of sports goods there is no comparable showcase as the World Cup tournament. Nike, adidas, Puma and Umbro are the four big brands that compete in this branch. With two of them stemming from Germany, adidas and Puma really have a home match this summer.

Nike, which didn’t possess a soccer department at all until the early 1990s, has risen to a major threat of adidas's supremacy on the soccer market. With the world famous team of Brazil under contract, their shirts and other football clothes are sold all over the world. Brazil generates so many exceptionally gifted players that actually it doesn’t matter who’s wearing the shirt of the national team: anyone of them could be a star. And the same goes for this year’s election: Adriano, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo – seems as if the list of Brazil’s heroes is never ending.

Adidas'‘ answer to Nike signing Brazil is the top team of the last decade: France, with superstar Zinedine Zidane accompanied by other popular players like Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka and Lillian Thuram. Maybe at the World Cup in Germany, another French star will be born.

Although in the rest of the world not that popular, Germany being an adidas signee is another clever move by adidas. The reason is that the German market for football clothes, accesories and equipment is a giant one. The highest average attendance of the world can be found in Germany, and different than in other countries: there is no other sport that competes with football for the favour of the people.

Puma, founded by adidas founder’s brother Rudolf Dassler, was almost bankrupt in the late 1980s, but recovered well and soon. Nowadays Puma clothes are regarded as hip and they surf the retro-wave pretty successful. Astonishingly, the "little brother" of adidas has signed no less than 12 teams at the World Cup in Germany. The probably strongest team of Puma is Italy. Traditionally Puma is very big in Africa, so Puma equips all five African participants at the World Cup.

Umbro is very big in the UK, but less successful in continental Europe. England and, with its well known affinity to the UK, Sweden are equipped by Umbro. And there are also some minor football brands present at the World Cup: Lotto, Marathon and Joma, each of them equipping just one or two teams. Charming "Hummel", actually specializing in handball clothing, will not be seen on the many World Cup pitches: the only ever Hummel wearing team Denmark didn’t qualify.