With the largest World Cup in history, 2026 is going to be a big year for football, which means a big year for adidas.
“Football is really the heart and soul of the adidas brand,” says Sam Handy, the general manager of football at the brand. “adidas was founded on football. This will be our 15th World Cup, where we’ve been the official supplier.”
As a 17-year veteran of the brand, Handy has worked on numerous World Cups, but this is definitely the biggest, he says. The FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026 will be the largest and most ambitious tournament in history. It’s the first World Cup hosted across three countries – the United States, Mexico and Canada – and 16 host cities including Mexico City, Miami and New York.
The World Cup is a four-year inflection point in adidas’ marketing cycle, a place to show consumers with confidence what they stand for. From jerseys for more than 22 federations to the official ball of the games – the adidas Trionda a “connected” ball featuring a chip with video assistant referee tech – adidas will be all over the various fields.
“Main character energy was something that we talked a lot about coming into this event,” explains Handy. “It’s always a time for us to be very confident with who we are and our credibility within the sport and stand for the best version of ourselves.”
The company is headed into the games next year coming off of a strong 2025 performance. adidas reported a 12% growth in Q3, $7.77 billion (€6.63 billion) in total revenue, the highest the brand has ever achieved in a quarter.
The World Cup marketing plan will be rolled over several months. So far, the company has revealed the ball and dropped a teaser ad for the “You Got This” campaign centered on the La Preparacíon Americana film. Directed by Eoin Glaister, the spot stars Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, Florian Wirtz, Edson Álvarez and Trinity Rodman.
“You only see the beginning of it now,” teases Handy. “You are seeing chapter one and two of maybe a five chapter book. The ball was chapter one. The jerseys are chapter two. Chapter three comes in spring next year.”
Brand Innovators caught up with Handy from his office at the adidas global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany to discuss adidas’ role in the 2026 World Cup. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is your approach to storytelling in the 2026 World Cup?
adidas and football have been together from the very beginning. Every time we come into a World Cup cycle, it’s a huge highlight for the brand. The World Cup platform offers the scale of the world’s biggest sport. I’m trying to connect the product creation strategies into the marketing execution strategy, while also unlocking our superpower – which is being a brand born from both football and culture – and then amplifying that on this huge global stage.
In 2023, we brought back the Trefoil, the archival Adidas logo. In 2025, you see that really amplified across our clubs. We’ve really leaned into this superpower of being both cultural, credible and part of the creative side of football, while also being strong on the high performance side of football through our top athlete portfolio.
We will be flexing our credibility as both a cultural and performance force within the sport and a lot of that is driven by the opportunity that our football is played across three host countries that are some of the biggest consumer markets in the world as well. This ultimate collision of sport and culture coming to life in football in North America – the U.S., Canada and Mexico – that’s what drove a lot of the creative strategy.
How will you show up in the fragmented media landscape that we live in today?
One thing that we talk about a lot is trying to be from culture as opposed to for culture. A lot of that really stems from one of the most important sounding boards that we have – our professional players. We work a lot with pro players and really listen to how they see their brand coming to life and which media channels excite them. We also talk to consumers. We have the pleasure of having prosumer insights play a big part of our creation cycle. If you see how a player like Lamine Yamal brings himself to life on TikTok or in Kings League, that’s part of how we’re bringing this activation to life. We are reaching Gen Alpha, Gen Z, as well as millennials through this media.
For example, the ball has its own TikTok channel at the moment. This is an evolution of where we were during the Brazil World Cup in 2014, when we had a Twitter handle for the ball. Now it’s much more excitingly expressed, through that freedom or creativity that TikTok offers as a platform. We are also curating beautiful content for Instagram and out-of-home. We are trying to be as contemporary as we can.
How does the ball work?
The adidas connected match ball has a chip inside that lets the refereeing staff know where the ball is at all times, in real time, during the game. This enables them to be much quicker in making decisions in officiating for an offside call, for example. It helps the referees make faster and more accurate decisions in officiating. This is a big part of us being a technical supplier to the games, rather than just a marketing partner who might just be pumping ads on the stage. It’s one of the most important decisions that could possibly be taken with huge consequences. Helping that be more accurate points to us being at the heart and center of those critical decisions and important moments throughout the whole tournament.
The event will take place across very different cities. Will you be activating in person in different ways to reflect the character and culture of these varying places?
Yes, because that’s a key part of how we come to market. We are a global brand with a local personality. We have clubs and federations and products that are super relevant across the globe, but relevant in a different way with different consumers. You’ll see us feel slightly different in Mexico than in New York or within the German federation in Berlin or Munich. Allowing that local nuance to support how we bring products to market is definitely really important.
Do you have any predictions of how brands will be showing up for the tournament?
The game changes every time there’s been a World Cup based on the host nation. We first saw a lot of social stuff happening in Russia in 2018. This blurring or blending between the global sport with the media landscape of North America is definitely going to be different. You will see halftime shows happening for the first time. You will hear announcers announcing the teams as the players walk out. The game will feel different. I’m sure we will see a great deal of creativity from all brands as they try and vie for the consumer’s attention the whole way through.
We’re very confident that our credibility of being the No. 1 sports brand will make what we do feel more authentic. Some people might struggle with authenticity as the world sport comes to life in North America, because clearly not every brand is credible in soccer. It will be an interesting comparison of who can credibly do it. And all of this will be happening with the backdrop of AI, TikTok and gamification.
Will adidas be using any gamification during the games?
Yes, we will. You’ve seen us bring lots of products to life in a gaming environment. We’ve partnered with Roblox, Fortnite and the EFC. The activation in the gaming world has definitely been part of the way we’ve rolled out lots of products recently.
How does the World Cup translate into sales for your business?
The World Cup always brings a significant commercial uplift when it comes to any market. This year is the biggest World Cup ever. The growth rates of football in general across the world is significant. Football has become a more credible U.S. sport and is now more important in the U.S. marketplace. We’ve seen the growth of football since World Cup 94 (the time it was hosted in the U.S.), the growth of the league, Messi coming to the U.S. There’s a lot of natural growth and the World Cup is going to turbocharge that. We have a key partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS). Every time football grows in the U.S., adidas wins as part of that through being a very authentic brand in that sport. This is a huge opportunity for us and we see the tailwind afterwards being really meaningful.
