Nike vs Adidas Messi: Due to a small mistake of Nike, Lionel Messi got associated with Adidas forever. In 2006, Adidas signed Messi by giving him a better deal and winning the legal battle. This partnership has proven historically successful for Adidas.
Messi Nike controversy: The partnership between Lionel Messi and Adidas is considered one of the most successful business deals in the world of sports. But there is a long story behind it. The story is about a small mistake by Adidas’ biggest competitor Nike, after which a big legal battle took place and Messi became Adidas forever.
Created history wearing Nike
This story started between 2001-2005. At that time, Messi was a part of Barcelona’s famous youth academy ‘La Masia’ and used Nike products. This was also natural, because Nike was the sponsor of Barcelona Club. In 2004, when Messi debuted for Barcelona’s senior team and scored the first historic goal of his career, he was still wearing Nike shoes.
The fight started over a tracksuit
Matters worsened in 2006. Messi’s father and agent George Messi contacted Nike. He asked for some more sports gear and tracksuits for his son. But Nike did not give any timely reply on this nor did it deliver the goods. Perhaps Nike could not predict Messi’s future correctly, but the resentment this ignorance created in Messi’s family changed history.
Adidas’s entry and legal battle
Adidas took advantage of this opportunity. He offered a huge contract to Messi. This was a 5-year deal, in which Messi was to receive approximately 400,000 pounds ($500,000) every year. This amount was much more than Nike’s offer. After this, in February 2006, Messi officially signed a contract with Adidas. Nike was enraged by this and went to court claiming that Messi already had a contract with them. But a Spanish court rejected Nike’s claim. The court found that Nike had only a ‘consent letter’, which cannot be considered a legally firm contract. The decision came in favor of Messi.
Messi became the face of the brand
As soon as Messi joined Adidas, the company made him the main face of its brand. In 2013, Adidas launched a special boot line and logo for Messi, paying tribute to a footballer for the first time since David Beckham. In 2017, Adidas signed a lifetime contract with Messi to cement this relationship forever. It is said that the value of this deal is more than 1 billion dollars.
Adidas cuts silver
The benefit Adidas got from this partnership is huge. In the last two decades, because of Messi, the market value of Adidas has increased almost three times. When Messi lifted the trophy wearing Adidas’ golden boots in the Qatar World Cup in 2022, and later when he went to Inter Miami club, the craze seen around the world for his pink jersey, speaks of the historic success of this partnership.