Nike, Adidas and Puma all claimed victories big and small at the European football championships this month – with Nike ruling the pitch on the night of the final but the two others taking advantage of social media exposure and partnerships with notable players.

Nike declined to provide detailed numbers but said that jersey sales for both France and Portugal, the two finalists, were strong. The two teams were outfitted with Nike's latest apparel innovation, Aeroswift. The group regarded the all-Nike apparel final as a big win, coming at the end of a quarter in which Chile also won the Copa América in Nike shirts, for the second time in a row.

Nike boasted that the Mercurial was the top scoring boot at the tournament, with 35 goals, and that more than half of the goals were scored by Nike boots. More than 60 percent of all players at the European championships wore Nike boots, the group added. Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese captain and top Nike football endorsee, is currently the joint top scorer in championship history.

Adidas said earlier that it expected its sales in the football category to reach a record of €2.5 billion, up from €2.2 billion in 2015, with plans to sell 1.3 million replica shirts for the German football team and 7 million balls. After the loss of Germany and Wales in the semi-finals, Adidas reiterated that the projection of €2.5 billion football sales was unchanged.

The somewhat unexpected progress of the Welsh team to the semi-final was a bonus for the Adidas group. The company outfits the Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland teams in the form of a so-called commercial deal – meaning that they receive equipment, but no money, said an Adidas spokesman. In return, they are allowed to make their own arrangements for the distribution of their shirts, and Wales did so exclusively with JD Sports.

Adidas also grabbed the opportunity to gain exposure through its partnership with Paul Pogba, the French player who is popular with youngsters due to his attitude. The tie-up fits with the company's latest approach, to seek partnerships with players who distinguish themselves for their skills and other assets – making them relevant for a wider range of Adidas consumers.

When it comes to social media, Nike said that it had accumulated more than 345 million views across broadcast and digital platforms with “The Switch,” Nike football's summer campaign.

But Adidas focused on another form of engagement, emphasizing that the brand generated more than 1.6 million shares across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Online Media during the main football events of the summer, from the Champions' League final to the Euro and the Copa América. The #firstneverfollows hashtag was used seven times more than its closest competitor, receiving 685,000 mentions across Instagram and Twitter. Adidas said it dominated the daily share volume for 27 out of the European competition's 30 days. This resulted in 1.17 million shares, more than twice the number of the next biggest, Adidas worked out.

Adidas set up a special newsroom at the Cité de la Mode et du Design, entirely dedicated to content creation for social media. It focused on its relationship with Germany, Wales, Belgium and Spain along with key players such as Pogba, Mesut Özil and Gareth Bale. Adidas said it also took an innovative approach to its Uefa rights, giving it access to match footage, exclusive post-game player portraits, and in-stadia LED boards used as content streams throughout the tournament.

With five national teams in the tournament, Puma worked out that it was on the pitch for nearly 40 percent of the games. Along with the mishap with the Swiss team jersey, it may have been a disappointment that Italy didn't make it past the quarter finals. But Puma scored highly on the feet of Antoine Griezmann, the French forward who was named Player of the Tournament after finishing with six goals and two assists. Griezmann and his French teammate Oliver Giroud prominently features in the Play Loud campaign, providing exposure for Puma's Tricks boots. Rui Patricio, the Portuguese goalkeeper, turned out to be another important asset.

Errea, the Italian supplier of Iceland's national team jersey, had its own big moment at the European championships when the team unexpectedly defeated England. Errea apparently managed to keep up with demand owing to its own manufacturing facilities. British newspapers noted with some glee that some of the demand came from Scotland.