Weight of sportswear brands within elite european football through sponsorship. Marketing and competition between adidas and nike

Abstract

This research aims to elucidate the weight of the major sportswear brands in terms of sponsorship within elite European professional football. It will also be determined if Adidas and Nike have an equal role in terms of their ability to activate sponsorships within this sector, key in their global battle to be leaders in the market in which they compete. To obtain relevant information in this regard, a first stage is set in motion, aimed at building a theoretical framework through the use of bibliographic and documentary review. The second stage develops an ‘ad hoc’ investigation that uses content analysis to register the main players in the elite European football sector, and who are their official sportswear sponsors. The results obtained indicate that Adidas and Nike clearly dominate the activation of this type of sponsorship. Nike is the hegemonic brand on the activation of individual soccer player sponsorships, while in the collective sponsorships of clubs and federations Adidas stands out discreetly. It can be concluded that there is no exactly balanced weight between the sponsorship activation achievements by both brands.