Adidas was officially registered as a company in 1949 under founder Adolf (“Adi”) Dassler, but its modern global rise accelerated through postwar sports marketing and international distribution. This created a long-running competitor to Nike and a major player in multinational sports endorsements.
Adidas began supplying the official FIFA World Cup match ball at the 1970 tournament in Mexico, starting with the Telstar. This role tied the brand to football’s biggest media event every four years and became a long-term global branding platform.
Blue Ribbon Sports, founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, formally became Nike, Inc. in 1971. The company adopted the Swoosh logo in the same period, setting the foundation for a distinctive global brand identity that would later be amplified through athlete sponsorships and media.
Michael Jordan signed a major endorsement agreement with Nike in October 1984. The deal led to the Air Jordan line, showing how a single athlete partnership could drive global product demand and reshape sports branding beyond the sport itself.
In 1986, Run-DMC signed an endorsement deal with Adidas, widely recognized as the first major sneaker endorsement by non-athletes. This helped link sportswear to music, youth culture, and lifestyle marketing across borders, not just to competition on the field.
Nike introduced the “Just Do It” slogan in 1988 through its advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy. The campaign helped Nike market sports as a personal identity and lifestyle, reinforcing the value of athlete endorsements as part of a broader media strategy.
Nike signed a major agreement with the Brazilian Football Confederation in 1996 to supply Brazil’s national team kits. The partnership put Nike at the center of a globally watched football brand and showed how kit deals could function as long-term international advertising.
Tiger Woods turned professional in August 1996 and signed a high-value endorsement deal with Nike. The partnership helped expand Nike’s influence into golf and demonstrated how global sponsorship could elevate a brand in sports beyond its original core markets.
In April 2006, the NBA announced an 11-year exclusive merchandising partnership with adidas (following adidas’s merger with Reebok). The deal reflected how major leagues used global apparel partners to unify retail, marketing, and broadcast-era branding.
In 2010, the NFL announced that Nike would become the league’s official on-field uniform provider starting in 2012. This placed Nike in a dominant position within U.S. pro football’s mass-media ecosystem and expanded its global merchandising reach.
In 2013, Adidas and FIFA extended their World Cup sponsorship relationship through 2030. The extension protected Adidas’s visibility in the most-watched football tournament while Nike continued to grow through club, national-team, and athlete deals.
Adidas and Kanye West’s collaboration formally debuted in early 2015, beginning with major product releases and fashion presentations tied to Adidas Originals. It showed how sportswear branding could use celebrity partnerships—outside sport—to create worldwide demand and media attention.
In November 2016, Nike announced that Cristiano Ronaldo had agreed to a “lifetime” endorsement arrangement. The deal illustrated how multinational brands used a few globally recognizable athletes to anchor long-term marketing across regions, languages, and media platforms.
Nike took over as the NBA’s on-court uniform and apparel provider beginning with the 2017–18 season, replacing adidas. This brought the Nike logo directly onto game uniforms and strengthened the link between broadcast sports, retail jerseys, and global branding.
In December 2024, Brazil extended its partnership with Nike through 2038, building on a relationship that began in 1996. The renewal highlighted how long-term national-team sponsorships became stable, multinational branding assets tied to merchandise and global fan identity.
Global sports sponsorship and branding: multinational endorsements by Nike and Adidas (1970-2020)