--- title: "adidas AG Quarterly Revenue Hits Record High, World Cup Investment Fails to Deliver Expected Profits" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/294460515.md" description: "adidas AG sold record-breaking products during the World Cup but failed to deliver the profit performance expected by the market. On July 30, adidas AG disclosed its 20" datetime: "2026-07-31T05:55:15.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/294460515.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294460515.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/294460515.md) --- # adidas AG Quarterly Revenue Hits Record High, World Cup Investment Fails to Deliver Expected Profits adidas AG sold record-breaking products during the World Cup but failed to deliver the profit performance expected by the market. On July 30, adidas AG disclosed its financial results for the second quarter of 2026. The company's revenue increased by 13% year-on-year to €6.743 billion, or 14% on a currency-neutral basis, marking a historic high for a single quarter. Operating profit grew by only 5% to €574 million, falling short of analysts' consensus expectation of €623 million, a gap of nearly 8%. Net profit from continuing operations rose by 6% to €398 million, also missing market expectations. The divergence between revenue and profit has become the main contradiction in this financial report. In the second quarter, adidas AG's gross margin increased by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year to 52.5%. Increased full-price sales, a higher proportion of direct-to-consumer channels, and improvements in product and logistics costs continue to support its underlying profitability. However, these improvements did not offset the significant increase in World Cup marketing expenses. During the period, adidas AG's marketing and point-of-sale expenses increased by 30% year-on-year, rising by approximately €212 million to €924 million. As a percentage of revenue, this increased from 12% to 13.7%. As a result, the company's operating profit margin decreased from 9.2% in the same period last year to 8.5%. During this World Cup, adidas AG sponsored 14 participating teams, including Spain and Argentina, and provided the official match ball. The company also launched global marketing campaigns centered around athletes such as Messi and Bellingham, as well as entertainment celebrities. The tournament indeed drove sales growth. adidas AG disclosed that sales of World Cup-related products amounted to approximately €1.5 billion, with jersey sales exceeding 17 million units, roughly four times the volume during the 2022 Qatar World Cup. In the second quarter, adidas AG's apparel revenue grew by 35% on a currency-neutral basis, while its professional sports business grew by 39%. Football and running were the main drivers, with the running business growing by approximately 30%. However, the growth structure was not entirely balanced. Footwear revenue grew by only 1%, and the lifestyle business grew by 2%. Classic shoe models such as Samba and Gazelle, which had previously supported adidas AG's recovery, are gradually entering a stable phase. The high growth in this quarter relied more on football jerseys, event apparel, and professional sports products rather than new lifestyle footwear taking the baton. Before the release of the financial report, investors expected not just World Cup-driven sales, but also that high sales would bring stronger profit elasticity and a more significant upward revision for the full year. Ultimately, adidas AG raised its full-year currency-neutral revenue growth forecast from "high single digits" to 9%–10%, but maintained its full-year operating profit target of approximately €2.3 billion. This profit target is lower than the market's expectation of approximately €2.5 billion, implying that the incremental revenue brought by the World Cup was largely absorbed by marketing expenditures in the short term. The Chinese market remains one of the more stable regions for adidas AG this quarter. In the second quarter, adidas AG's Greater China revenue grew by 15% on a currency-neutral basis, continuing double-digit growth, though slightly slowing down from 17% in the first quarter. In May this year, Xiao Jiale, Managing Director of adidas AG Greater China, revealed that approximately 65% of the products sold in the Chinese market are currently designed by local teams, and about 95% of procurement is completed in China. The collaborative efficiency of the adidas AG China team in design capture, production response, and retail execution is also improving. In June, in response to the viral "Going into the City to Handle Affairs" pattern on social media platforms, the company quickly launched a custom printing service, driving a several-fold increase in orders at some offline stores. However, against the backdrop of overall pressure in the Chinese footwear and apparel market, adidas AG's recovery remains in a "repair + catch-up" phase compared to industry peaks, with subsequent competition and challenges still present. ### Related Stocks - [ADDYY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ADDYY.US.md) - [ADS.DE](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ADS.DE.md) ## Related News & Research - [The World Cup winners wore Adidas shirts. 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