Adidas, the German sports clothing company, hopes to emerge triumphant from next year's football world cup, the company's CEO told the Financial Times Deutschland, the FT's sister paper.
"We hope to make more than 1 billion euros next year," Herbert Hainer, said in an interview. As part of its tactics to make record profits, the group intends to invest up to 900 million euros in the world cup.
The world cup should offer sports clothing companies the chance to enjoy an improvement in growth – and is an event that Puma, Adidas' competitor, also hopes to exploit.
Adidas increased its turnover in holding countries like Japan and Korea by 30 percent during the 2002 football world cup and turnover has increased there year on year by double figures.
Four years ago, Adidas broke into the French market and it remains the company's biggest market in Europe.
By 2006, the group, which is the second biggest sports clothing brand in the world after Nike, hopes to increase its current 47 percent share of the German market to 50 percent.
"At this level, everyone has to fight hard for every single percentage point," Guenter Weigl, head of Adidas' football division, said.
Worldwide, there is a turnover potential of 3 billion euros in football clothing and accessories at the 2006 world cup – around 400 million euros more than this year. Adidas hopes to see a third of this.
Adidas has 100 employees to work exclusively on preparations for the tournament, which begins on June 9. "It is a unique opportunity, at least, as long as I am the CEO," Hainer said. "It is the chance of the century. Football is everything to us," he added. Football makes up one sixth of the company's turnover, which in 2004 amounted to 900m Euro.
Hainer must also secure the company's position within Europe – the brand is now no longer the first choice in the world of football. Last year, Nike, the U.S. rival, was for the first time, the leading football brand in Europe – ahead of Adidas. But, Adidas has managed to strengthen its share of the European market by increasing it to 35 percent from 30 percent.