By Daniel Kay and Nicholas Brown

NEW YORK, June 24 (Reuters Sports Service) - As competition intensifies between brands at the World Cup, preliminary data suggests that sportswear giant Adidas has more support than rival Nike.

Both companies are investing heavily in the tournament, but Nike is relying on it to boost its sales and strengthen its presence, in an attempt to correct its course after years of a continuous decline in its market share.

Investors will be watching for any signs of progress next week when Nike announces its fourth-quarter earnings.

Adidas, the official sponsor of the World Cup and a brand long associated with the world of football, sponsors 14 national teams and supplies the tournament with the official ball that has been well-received.

As for Nike, it supplies clothing to 12 national teams, collaborates with popular local designers, and updates its football product lineup in more than 5,000 Nike stores and wholesale outlets worldwide.

But while both brands are poised to receive a boost from the World Cup for their apparel businesses, Adidas is benefiting more so far, according to Derek McFarlane, a research analyst at mScience.

Spending on Adidas apparel rose 70 percent in May compared to the previous year, and remained strong through June, according to mScience data.

McFarlane attributed this trend to the significant growth in shirt sales ahead of the World Cup.

He added that Nike's apparel business is also growing, but this growth is outpaced by Adidas, which has "the right range of products for the consumer".

Visitor numbers data confirms this trend.

Visits to Adidas stores in the United States rose 47 percent during the first week of the World Cup compared to the 2026 average, compared to an 11 percent increase at stores belonging to the Nike factory in the United States, according to data from analytics firm Placer AI shared with Reuters.

For Adidas, those visits represented a 16 percent increase compared to the same week last year, but for Nike, they represented a decrease, according to data analysis by Placer AI.

Elizabeth Lafontaine, director of research at Placer AI, said, "Although Nike's data only covers discount stores, the overall results nevertheless suggest that Adidas was the first choice in shoppers' minds, and may have succeeded in energizing its stores around this event."

British retailer JD Sports said that Mexico's national team jerseys, supplied by Adidas, were the best-selling national team apparel collection during the week beginning June 15.

The company explained that Nike's US national team jerseys ranked second in total sales.

On the positive side for Nike, 28 percent of its World Cup merchandise was sold in the United States during the first two weeks of the tournament, a much higher percentage than Adidas's 7 percent, according to a report by the London Stock Exchange Group this week.

* Shoes are the focus

Nike had a strong presence at the World Cup.

A Reuters analysis found that 232 of the 528 starting players in the World Cup so far have worn Nike boots, followed closely by Adidas with 218. "Nike is very much in the mix," said David Swartz, equity analyst at Morningstar, despite Adidas's close ties to FIFA, the governing body of world football.

He added, "A strong presence... is beneficial to the strength of its brand."

Nike may benefit from this success: sales have declined as demand has fallen for classic lines such as Dunk and Air Jordan.

Competition has also intensified from new companies such as Aon and Deckers, and analysts say the company has been slow to shift towards new patterns.

While appearing at the World Cup doesn't hurt, "ultimately it's about the product first and foremost," according to Mary Shore, senior equity analyst at Columbia Threadneedle, which owns shares in Nike.

"If a Nike product doesn't resonate, then nothing else matters."

Nike's share of the global athletic footwear market fell from 29.2 percent in 2022 to 22.9 percent last year, according to Euromonitor International data obtained by Reuters.