Prompted by AFP at the post-results press conference, adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden apologized for the widespread pink boots worn by players across rival brands at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Five rival brands converged on the same fluorescent pink for their 2026 FIFA World Cup boots, and it took the press conference after adidas’s Q2 2026 earnings release for someone to say out loud that it may not have been the best call. adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden told reporters on July 30 that the tournament’s wall to wall pink cleats were “an accident,”.
A coordination gap, not a color problem
Speaking after adidas released its Q2 2026 results, Gulden was asked by Agence France-Presse why boots from adidas, Nike, PUMA and New Balance turned out nearly indistinguishable in the same electric fuchsia. “I think it’s a coincidence, and I hope it will not happen again,” he said, adding that the color itself was never the issue:
“Pink is a good color, no doubt. But that we all ended up with the same is strange.”
That explanation aligns with SGI Europe’s earlier feature on the phenomenon, published June 22, 2026. The boots worn from Vancouver to Guadalajara appeared to reflect brands drawing on similar forecasting inputs rather than any evidence of coordination. SGI Europe attributed the pattern to shared trend agency briefs roughly 18 to 24 months before kickoff.
Gulden confirmed adidas has no visibility into rivals’ color plans before launch and pointed to a second gap further down the chain: retailers who, he suggested, would normally flag an overcrowded color trend before launch stayed quiet this cycle.
“Shame on us, I think no one liked it,” he said.
A mea culpa inside a stronger outlook
The apology landed in an otherwise upbeat set of numbers. adidas raised its full year 2026 revenue growth guidance to 9 to 10 percent, up from a previous high single digit outlook, while holding its operating profit target at €2.3 billion. Investors did not reward the update. adidas shares fell nearly 18 percent on the day, a reaction Gulden said he could not explain.
“I see the stock price, and I don’t know where the misunderstanding lies,” he said. “We are surprised.”
In SGI Europe’s analysis, the episode is a warning less about pink than about pipeline concentration. When several suppliers brief the same forecasting agencies on the same cycle, differentiation can become a coordination problem rather than a creative one, invisible until it shows up simultaneously on 48 teams’ worth of boots.
Gulden signaled a partial fix already in motion, promising more color variety once the club season resumes in August. None of Nike, PUMA, New Balance or Skechers has commented publicly on the coincidence.
