Inside Adidas' World Cup Strategy
Chris Murphy, Adidas' North America senior vice president, brand marketing, sits down with SportsVerse. Plus, an interview with Athlos' chief marketing officer, Kayla Green.
Hi everyone, and welcome back to SportsVerse, my twice-weekly newsletter that tells stories you can’t find anywhere else about the intersection of sports, fashion, business, and culture.
Adidas went all out with the launch of its World Cup programming last week. There was the takeover of the Sphere in Las Vegas, a full-page ad in The New York Times, and of course the launch event itself at New York’s picturesque Brooklyn Bridge Park, which assembled footballing legends and World Cup winners from years gone by, including Cafu, Alessandro Del Piero, Xavi and Jurgen Klinsmann.
Less visible to the public, was a full-scale temporary Adidas HQ assembled high up in the Domino Sugar Factory, where scores of Adidas staff from designers to executives to PRs were based for the week, giving a select number of media folk — myself included — a sneak peak at the brand’s national federation kit designs for the World Cup next year, along with various other related capsules, collaborations and products (totalling over 3000 individual SKUs) that will be launched between now and the tournament kick off next June.
I sat down with Chris Murphy, an Adidas veteran of over 20 years, who currently holds the title of senior vice president, brand marketing for Adidas’ North America business, and as such has overseen a great deal of the company’s preparations for the World Cup.
As I’ve written before, just as Nike is the original basketball brand, the same can be said for Adidas with football. The brand has made products for the sport since the 1950s. Its most well known sneaker, the Samba, famously made its debut as a sneaker worn by the German national team to help them gain traction on icy and snowy pitches that same decade. The company’s sports-loving, charismatic CEO Bjørn Gulden is a former professional footballer himself with an avid passion and encyclopedic knowledge of the sport to this day. Meanwhile, as an official partner of the World Cup dating back 50 years, Adidas is arguably best positioned among all the major sportswear brands to publicise and host marketing activations around its involvement in sport’s biggest tournament.
This context sets up a fascinating dynamic. Adidas, dominant in football, is set to gain unparalleled access and exposure at the 2026 World Cup, which will take place across North America, the backyard of its biggest rival, Nike.
For years, Adidas has strived to gain a larger foothold in the region, through: (1) opening a major hub in Los Angeles to localise decision making, product design and marketing for the US market; (2) leaning into basketball culture and the success of its Anthony Edwards relationship; (3) growing its presence in (American) football; and (4) leveraging its sponsorship of Major League Soccer in ways that serve the brand’s ambitions to be known as the go-to brand in the market — e.g. the role it played in Lionel Messi’s blockbuster transfer to Inter Miami. Now, soccer culture is beginning to drive trends in North America in ways it never has before.
Though Nike has recently returned to growth in North America, the fact remains that the brand is still in the midst of a comeback. Adidas will see the World Cup as a stellar opportunity to grab valuable market share from its rivals on their home turf.
It won’t be easy, though. Nike still has significant cachet and credibility in global football, including its sponsorship of star players including Vinicius Jr to Kylian Mbappé to Cristiano Ronaldo, partnerships with major federations from France to England (and the USA, for as long as they stay in the tournament) and is in the midst of a massive push of its own to underscore its own impact on the sport over the years (see: T90 re-launch, Toma El Juego; Coachella cage football activations with Travis Scott).
So, what would a successful 2026 World Cup look like from an Adidas perspective? Chris Murphy gave me a great answer:
“Everyone look at sales, right? It will firstly be a question of whether the 3000 [World Cup related] products sold the way we wanted it to. Additionally, there are important things like market share. Did we take market share in certain spots, from certain competitors? And then on the brand marketing side (the side that I’m looking mostly at), it’s all about tracking conversation across earned and owned media — especially on social media. It’s very competitive in that space, and we track [online] conversation very closely. And we don’t track just US competitors. We want to make sure conversation around our brand is bigger than any other brand that’s involved in this [tournament].”
Another thing that stood out to me was the way in which Adidas has used its relationships with footballing legends of the past to help promote the notion of the brand’s decorated history in the game — thanks to the likes of Cafu and Beckham, as well as players like Messi, who are still competing. But Murphy also stressed the importance of Adidas’ connection to younger players shaping the face of contemporary football culture and its intersection with style, such as Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Trinity Rodman, and several others:
“We have a great history in sport. In soccer, it happens to go very, very far back. But if you think about the global scale of soccer, and some of those moments that people always remember — Zidane’s [headed goals to win the 1998 World Cup for France] , Kaká [and his three World Cup showings], Messi’s performances just last World Cup — these are moments that are ingrained in people’s minds, in some cases, probably forever. And so maintaining that connection to some of these moments is super important for us.
We also want to make sure that we’re connecting to a much younger audience as well. So you think about the progress we’ve made with a younger group thanks to players like Lamine Yamal (and I mean Messi transcends generation), which is great. Jude Bellingham is an excellent one in this market. Cavan Sullivan [the 16-year-old Philadelpia Union wonderkid headed for Manchester City]. On the women’s side, having Trinity Rodman— young, interesting, and tied to both sport and culture. I think we have a great connection to legends, for sure, because of that in-built memory; some of the greatest sports moments at the global scale come from some of those legends. And in a lot of cases, they’re wearing our product, which is great, and even better to be able to to have them connect down into these younger players representing a new generation. That is super important.”
Another thing I noted when browsing Adidas’ World Cup jerseys and collections — still to be revealed — was how the brand has leaned on consumer trends (like the whole wearing-football-boots-as-casual-sneakers thing) and incorporated a more stylised and fashion-forward take on football products. We’ve seen that already with products such as the Predator Megaride Sneakers, which resemble the brand’s old school football boots (soccer cleats) but are actually for lifestyle use. This was very much the intention, Murphy said:
You’ve probably noticed how much it’s changed over the past couple of years — that connection back into style in a bigger way, at least in this [North America] market. I think in some markets outside the U.S., soccer has always been deeply tied to culture. In this market, that hasn’t always been the case. Basketball has been a much bigger driver of culture, and American football has built a strong cultural connection too.But over the past two or three years, that cultural connection with soccer has blossomed massively here. And luckily, when you think about our superpower as a brand — that ability to connect sport and culture, and to draw from our archive to show up authentically in the cultural and lifestyle space — it’s something we’ve always done really well.
So now, seeing that same energy happening in the US, where soccer is driving so much of what’s happening in culture and lifestyle, has been awesome for us. We’ve leaned in hard, as we should — that’s a space where we know we can win.
To your point, look at jerseys, apparel, pants tied to that look — even Sambas, Gazelles, Spezials — the connection to those classics. Some of the boots we’re making, like the F50s we’re bringing back and reimagining for the lifestyle side — we’ve leaned heavily into all of it because it’s becoming such a big part of culture here. Soccer is driving a lot of those cultural moments, and we want to lean in because we can do it authentically, better than anyone else.
Naturally, SportsVerse will continue keeping a watchful eye on Adidas’ World Cup preparations and will be doing the same for Nike and Puma, when their products and activations take shape publicly. Stay tuned. Thanks to Chris for joining us today, and thanks to Julia & team for making it happen!
A Conversation with Athlos CMO Kayla Green
Athlos, the New York-based track-and-field start-up tournament founded by Alexis Ohanian, which boasts one of the largest prize purses in the history of the sport, is taking place later this week. Earlier this year, it was announced that the competition welcomed three new advisor-owners, in the form of US Olympic gold medalists Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas and Tara Davis-Woodhall.
I have long been fascinated with Athlos, and this felt like a significant development, part of a wider trend of female athletes seeking to build more lucrative and equitable sporting competitions for themselves and others while still in the prime of their careers. Other examples include Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart’s Unrivaled Basketball, and League One Volleyball.
Today, we’re joined by Athlos CMO Kayla Green, an experienced executive and marketer at the intersection of sports, business and culture, formerly founding CMO of NWSL team Angel City FC.
DYM: Why is it important for Athlos to seek cross-cultural partnerships and collabs?
KG: We’ve always been very clear: Athlos isn’t an event, it’s an anthem – an invitation to push the pace and boundaries of the sport. We’ve loved bringing brands to Athlos that excite different parts of the track universe – from The Realest memorializing Athlos merch to Rodeo de las Aguas powering our signature drinks, Toyota driving our athletes around New York and CashApp enabling faster payments. It’s all been thoughtfully designed for the athletes and the fans.
What is it about Tower28 and the beauty industry that makes it an alluring partnership for Athlos?
KG: Tower28 mixes peak performance with peak fun, peak luxury with peak accessibility – all things that are very Athlos-coded. Tower28 also really celebrates individuality, and all the personalities in this sport are truly unique. We love bringing that ethos to the track, and to our athletes. It’s exciting to see that self-expression, style, and sport can coexist.
How important are striking culturally relevant brand deals to the athletes who take part in and make up the ownership group of Athlos? Why is it important to see these things coming into track and field?
KG: As you may have heard, we have three legends as advisor-owners here at Athlos: Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, and Tara Davis-Woodhall. There is very little this group doesn’t weigh in on – and we’ve been consulting the athletes themselves since Athlos was first born. All of the athletes are incredibly savvy, and it was important to see brands they use and love show up for them at Athlos. You also see this in all the little details – from the Tiffany crowns so they feel like queens to the walkout music that’s personalized to their hype-up taste to the glam and beauty products from our partners SharkBeauty and Tower28 and curated individual power-up and recovery snacks from our partners at Instacart.
I’m always curious to know, what do the athletes get in their tournament goodie bags?
KG: Competing is hard work, and Athlos marks the end of the track and field season for all of these women. We’ve been really lucky to have awesome brands show up to send the girls home in style with swag. This year, we’ve partnered with:
Instacart for pre- and post-race recovery snacks, each curated to the individual athletes’ preferences. They will also be doing a bespoke athlete recovery lounge on site at Athlos NYC this year, complete with makeup touch-ups, snacks, and a recovery zone with foam rollers and physio equipment.
Essentia water will keep athletes and fans hydrated all night as our official water partner. They are dedicated to changing the equation both on and off the track, and we couldn’t be more excited about their support.
Cash App is providing a groundbreaking new way for athletes to get paid, as soon as they come off the track. For all eligible athletes, Cash App will ensure immediate payments of prize money once race results are verified. They are also providing a record-setting $250,000 prize to any athlete who breaks a world record at Athlos NYC 2025. Truly a game-changing partnership for the modern era of track and field.
SharkNinja is providing beauty tools with SharkBeauty Glam and their Shark CryoGlow mask for all the athletes as they prep and recover from time on the track.
Thanks, Kayla, for joining SportsVerse today, and thank you Meghan for making it happen!
That’s all for today, friends. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
See you next time,
DYM
Your articles are always insightful, well researched and a delight to read.
Really enjoyed the interview with Kayla Green — the partner roster Athlos has built is both impressive and incredibly strategic. I’ll be at Friday’s event and look forward to seeing how it all comes together.