World Cup 2014: Nike and Adidas Go Head to Head in the Battle of the Brands

Fortunately for Adidas, both the teams left in the final of the World Cup wear shirts sponsored by the German sports giant, after Argentina's semi-final victory over Nike-clad Netherlands and Germany's annihilation of Brazil.

But it's not just about what logo is planted on the chest of the teams playing. Take one look at a football game and you'll notice a plethora of sports brands emblazoned across the players. From gloves to boots, undershirts to snoods.

Adidas and Nike are able to claim that they dominate 80% of the football kit market, but overall, it's a close call to tell who the bigger brand is.

Nike was able to boast record profits in football sales of £1.3bn ($2.4bn, €1.7bn) for its 2013/14 fiscal year. However, Adidas is expected to break that record in due course with predicted annual profits of £1.6bn for 2014.

Overall, sales this year have been €2bn for Adidas. At the last World Cup, it delivered €1.5bn of sales, Markus Baumann, Adidas' senior VP of global football, told IBTimes UK.

"We need to compare those two numbers from four years ago and the numbers that we have achieved in 2014 and it shows that football definitely continues to grow," Baumann said.

And the relative virgin in terms of untapped football (soccer) brand capacity is North America.

On the face of it, it would seem that Nike is one step ahead in the North American market, what with it being a US company and already sponsoring the men's national team.

But Adidas appears to have other ideas.

"In the media, our popularity for soccer in the US has increased just based on the performance of the national team, which shows us that there is still a lot of potential out there," Baumann continued.

"Our presence in North America is very good. We are the official sponsor of the Major League Soccer (MLS). We are also very connected in terms of grass roots and retail presence in the US so it's definitely not a concern for us [that Nike is there with the national team]."

Nike Still has a World Cup Final Presence

Despite Nike-sponsored Brazil and Holland being out on the final, the US sports brand will still be represented strongly.

Mario Gotze and Miroslav Klose of Germany, as well as Argentina's midfield enforcer Javier Mascherano, are just a few players who will be donning Nike boots when they make their appearance at the Maracana this coming Sunday.

In fact, a spokesperson for Nike told IBTimes UK that 41% of the players on either side will be wearing Nike boots, including Argentina's marksman Gonzalo Higuain.

Another plus for Nike would be that Klose broke the World Cup scoring record wearing Nike boots, which was previously set by Brazil's Ronaldo - wearing a Nike shirt.

Nike's response to the final being an all-Adidas affair was: "For us, football is not just about one day or one competition, it's about every day and every game."

Adidas was understandably sanguine about the exposure it would get from the final.

"It's definitely just one game but it's the most watched game on the planet which we expect more than one billion people to follow. The visibility of the three stripes and our brand will be tremendous around the world. This is the most important game in four years," said Baumann.

"In business and in sport, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose but this time things worked out very well," he added.

Nike has taken every game into account. Impressively, of all the 167 goals that have been scored thus far in the tournament, 75, or 45%, of them have come from Nike associated players, according to the US firm, with brands such as Adidas, Puma and Umbro, to name but a few, collectively making up the rest.

Shine Bright!

Viral campaigns have been all the rage at this World Cup, and a series of short movies from Nike, such as the animated The Last Game, has really done the rounds.

"Great storytelling isn't about looking into a crystal ball, it's about inspiring and entertaining. We create our campaigns so players are inspired to play more and play better," a Nike spokesperson told IBTimes UK.

"The three films from the #RiskEverything campaign have generated over 400m views. The animated film, The Last Game, received over 207m views in its first month.

"That's an unprecedented level of engagement. Alongside our 21% football category growth in the last fiscal year these figures show why we're the sport's number one brand."

Out of the 32 teams that entered the competition, the majority had Nike as there shirt sponsor – 10 to be exact.

Is there any conflict regarding the German company championing Argentina's Lionel Messi as the poster boy of Adidas - someone who could deny the Germans the greatest accolade in football, after all?

Baumann doesn't think so: "From a business point of view, it doesn't make that much of a difference [who wins]. We are not cheering for one or the other from a company's perspective, but if you were to ask my personal opinion, being a German, I might have a different answer!"

More than likely he will be onto a win-win.