{"id":379893,"date":"2026-04-07T17:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379893\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:21:14","slug":"athletic-shoe-brands-jockey-for-position-in-wake-of-world-cup-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379893\/","title":{"rendered":"Athletic Shoe Brands Jockey for Position in Wake of World Cup Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBrand awareness is top of mind for athletic brands, and what better venue this year than FIFA Men\u2019s World Cup<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tFor marketers, the next few months will be critical. Strong storytelling that resonates with consumers creates brand heat that could bring residual sales at a time when Nike<\/a>\u2018s turnaround continues to hit speed bump and a challenging climate in Europe is impacting the sector as a whole. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith the tournament set to kick off in the United States, Mexico and Canada in June, there has been a flurry of activity among the top two competing brands, Nike<\/a> and Adidas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWorld Cup<\/a> fever is building momentum for the soccer cleat category<\/a>, good news for brands following a 12-month lull in interest, according footwear expert and soccer<\/a>.com\u2019s director of consumer merchandising Billy Lalor. Product introductions are already ramping up ahead of the World Cup \u2014 the match schedule is over two months, June and July. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, Nike and Adidas<\/a>, have been piling on the announcements about soccer<\/a>-inspired footwear, alongside a plethora of new team kits.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the highlights, Nike is prepping for the World Cup<\/a> with versions of its essential Air Force 1 sneakers for the United States Men\u2019s National Team, which has carries the official \u201cTeam USA\u201d badge, and its chief rival Mexico, which just has the heel tag \u201cMexico Tiempo FC\u201d as the team is Adidas-sponsored. Swoosh is also celebrating the role the U.S. has as World Cup host country with all-new jersey designs featuring American motifs as part of its 2026 team kits for U.S. soccer players.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sports brand is also reissuing for the first time since its 2013 launch one of Kobe Bryant\u2019s fan-favorite signature styles, the Nike Kobe 8 Protro \u201cMambacurial\u201d<\/a> sneaker. The low-cut ankle shoe will feature the original purple-to-pink mesh upper along with a bright green Swoosh at the toe, plus an upgraded drop-in insole for improved responsiveness.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdidas last month opened its first U.S.-focused soccer store<\/a> in a 9,000 square-foot space at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, N.J., offering an immersive, soccer-driven retail experience. American Dream said last month that the Adidas opening is part of a broader line-up of World Cup-related initiatives planned by the mall this year as it positions itself as a destination for sports fans and global events.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdidas also has three \u201cBringback\u201d colorways for its Gazelle sneakers<\/a> as part of a capsule for three countries, Mexico, Argentina and Columbia. The sneakers are available at the Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods\u2019 website. The capsule is part of the Bring Back collection that revives vintage soccer styles \u2014 think Adidas jerseys, tracksuits and tees \u2014 from legendary teams and matches.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother highlight is Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto<\/a> bringing back their Y-3 \u201cBeast Pact\u201d boots from 2006, this time without the cleats as the shoe returns as thin-sole sneakers. The pair of shoes, available in July, are priced at $300 each.<\/p>\n

\n\tPuma<\/a> isn\u2019t expected to introduce any shoe launches for the World Cup, but that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t have a presence at the event. In its\u00a0October earnings conference call<\/a>, Puma<\/a> CEO Arthur Hoeld ticked off a list of things Puma needs to correct, including \u2014 perhaps more importantly \u2014 the need to pack in some brand heat at sporting events this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tHoeld cited the World Cup at the company\u2019s fourth quarter earnings conference call on Feb. 26 the FIFA World Cup, noting that its sponsored teams will give the brand \u201ca strong, strong presence at one of the most prolific sporting events later this year.\u201d Puma last month unveiled team kits for its 11 sponsored nations, including teams from Portugal, Morocco, Ghana, Paraguay, Senegal, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Czech Republic, Switzerland, New Zealand, Austria and Egypt.<\/p>\n

\n\tPuma, which now counts Anta as its largest shareholder \u2014 has set 2026 as its year of transition, with a plan to return to above industry growth rates as of 2027. It is also focused on Hyrox and F1, two sports that are dominating the conversation. <\/p>\n

\n\tSoccer.com\u2019s Lalor said the Puma brand is expected to have a bigger presence in soccer footwear in 2027, which coincides with FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup with Brazil as the host country. <\/p>\n

\n\tSneaker brand Reebok<\/a> marked its reentry into the soccer market via an endorsement deal inked last month with Du\u0161an Vlahovi\u0107, one of Europe\u2019s top forwards. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe long-term partnership with the professional star as the face of Reebok<\/a> Football<\/a> apparel and footwear includes the summer debut of the Sidewinder, a performance football boot. Reebok followed a week later with the signing of a second endorsement deal, this time with elite European defender Trevoh Chalobah. Chalobah debuted the new Sidewinder during last month\u2019s UEFA Champions League knockout match.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe big question for the footwear players is how many shoes can they sell. According to Matt Powell, senior advisor at BCE Consulting, these big sporting tentpoles<\/a> are more effective as marketing occasions rather than sales drivers, although he did note a \u201cvery small lift for a couple of weeks\u201d for the footwear sector. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brand awareness is top of mind for athletic brands, and what better venue this year than FIFA Men\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[43440,4118,85,46,30648,47115,75553,19711,105,6866],"class_list":{"0":"post-379893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-adidas","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-nike","13":"tag-puma","14":"tag-reebok","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}